Issuu

CELEBRATING THE EFFORTS OF AUSTRALIA’S SPORTS TURF MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

ISSN 1442-2697

www.astma.com.au

VOLUME 28.5 SEPT-OCT 2026

NFL’s Melbourne spectacle 49ers, Rams put on a show at MCG

‘Coota’s resurrection

New lease on life for coastal gem

Vale Euan Laird

AGCSA CEO 1992-2002

Huntingdale GC reinvented

OCM redesign heralds new era for Sandbelt club

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PREMIUM PARTNERS ASTMA PREMIUM PARTNERS PREMIUM PARTNERS The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association is indebted to the GOLD support of the following premium partner companies PREMIUM PARTNERS The Sports Association The Australian Australian Sports Turf Turf Managers Managers Association is is indebted indebted to to the the The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association is indebted to the support of the following premium partner companies support of the following premium partner companies support Sports of the following premium partner companies The Australian Turf Managers Association is indebted to the PREMIUM PARTNERS support of the following premium partner companies PLATINUM PREMIUM PARTNERS The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association is indebted to the PLATINUM support of theThe following premium companies PLATINUM Australian Sportspartner Turf Managers Association is indebted to the PREMIUM PARTNERS PLATINUM support of the following premium partner companies The Australian SportsSILVER Turf Managers Association is indebted to the GOLD JOURNAL

Published by the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA) Editorial Brett Robinson (Editor) Office: (03) 9548 8600 Mobile: 0434 144 779 Email: brett@astma.com.au Nick Creely (Reporter) E: nick@astma.com.au Advertising Pam Irvine Office: (03) 9548 8600 Mobile: 0402 069 489 Email: pam@astma.com.au Art Direction & Design Jo Corne

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Suite 1, Monash Corporate Centre 752 Blackburn Road, Clayton, VIC 3168 P: (03) 9548 8600 E: admin@astma.com.au W: www.astma.com.au ABN 96 053 205 888 ASTMA Board Ben Tilley (Headland GC, president), Troy Jordan (MOPT, treasurer), Damian Hough (Adelaide Oval), Mark Findlay (Werribee Park GC), Dennis Grounds (Royal Canberra GC) and Lance Knox (Busselton GC) Chief Executive Officer Mark Unwin Mobile: 0438 320 919 E: mark@astma.com.au Membership Allison Jenkins E: admin@astma.com.au Finance Manager Frank Joseph E: frank@astma.com.au Events and Education Simone Staples E: simone@astma.com.au Pam Irvine E: pam@astma.com.au RTO/Training Albert Sherry (National Training Mgr) E: albert@astma.com.au M: 0437 064 726

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SILVER BRONZE SILVER The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support BRONZE these companies who support your association BRONZE BRONZE BRONZE

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Chris McCulloch (SA Training Mgr) E: chris@astma.com.au M: 0488 338 805

BRONZE BRONZE The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support

AGCSATech Bruce Macphee (Senior Agronomist) E: bruce@astma.com.au Tim Fankhauser (Agronomist) E: tim@astma.com.au Amy Dingle (Agronomist) E: amy@astma.com.au

these companies who support your association The The Australian Australian Sports Sports Turf Turf Managers Managers Association Association encourages encourages all all members members to to support support The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support these companies who support your association these companies companies who who support support your your association association these these companies who support your association The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support these companies who support your association

The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support these companies who support your association The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members these companies who support your association to support

The ASTMA believes that material sourced and produced for Australian Turfgrass Management is accurate, but gives no warranty in relation thereto, and disclaims liability for all claims against the ASTMA, its subsidiary companies, its employees, agents or any other person which may arise from any person acting on the materials contained within. No portion, in whole or part, may be reproduced without the written permission of the ASTMA

these companies who support your association The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association encourages all members to support SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

these companies who support your association

PHOTO: GARY LISBON/HUNTINGDALE GC

CONTENTS

8 COVER STORY

PHOTO: BRETT ROBINSON

In January, Huntingdale Golf Club in Melbourne fully reopened to members after a major threeyear OCM Golf redevelopment. For long-serving course superintendent Michael Freeman, who notches an impressive 44 years at the club this December, it was one of the most significant projects in a career which has continually seen him reinvent himself to remain at the top of his game. Through the redevelopment the club too has reimagined itself, with the new-look layout boasting immaculate Pure Distinction greens, a new routing and extensive native areas. In this edition’s cover story, ATM editor Brett Robinson catches up with Freeman to reflect on the journey of both club and superintendent over the past three years and the transformation that has taken place at the former home of the Australian Masters.

Cover: The new-look southern end of Huntingdale Golf Club - holes 5 and 8. Photo: Gary Lisbon/Huntingdale GC.

24 FEATURES ALSO IN THIS EDITION… Foreword Thinking – Mark Unwin Best on ground – Socials Around the Trade Association Reports/News Book Review 2

4 6 64 66 72

NFL’s Melbourne spectacle ‘Coota’s resurrection Great Barrier belief Vale Euan Laird Conference reflections Hidden gems

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

16 24 30 36 42 52

PHOTO: WILLIAM WATT (CONTOURS AGENCY)

HUNTINGDALE REINVENTED

Small in stature, big in impact

PHOTO: BRETT ROBINSON

COLUMNS

JOHN FORREST BEN GIBSON

48 58

58 Contributors to Australian Turfgrass Management Journal Volume 28.5 (September-October 2026): Kim Adair (Huntingdale GC); Jake Anderson (AAMI Park); Jeff Austen (South Metropolitan TAFE); John Cann (Abel Sports); Aaron Donovan (Mallacoota GC); John Forrest (Forrest & Forrest Horticultural Consultancy Services); Michael Freeman (Huntingdale GC); Getty Images; Ben Gibson (The Toolbox Team); Monina Gilbey (Green Gecko Studios); Hartfield CC maintenance crew; Troy Jordan (Melbourne Park); Peter Kazakoff (Great Barrier Reef Arena); Adam Lamb (VGCSA); Gary Lisbon (www.garylisbon.com); Dr Brett Morris (The R&A); Daniel Neucom Photography; John Neylan; Matt Page (MCG); Nick Pappas (NFL); Shaun Patterson (Moonee Valley Racing Club); Scott Reid (TSTMA); Rob Swift (OCM Golf); Jacob Thomsen (Dansk Golf Union/The R&A); Kate Torgersen (Environmental Golf Solutions); Mark Unwin (ASTMA); Tim Warren (TMSA); William Watt (Contours Agency);

have a lot to thank the man pictured immediately to the left of this editorial’s opening line. As does an industry. For those that don’t know, that man is Euan Laird. Between 1992 and 2002, Euan served as the inaugural executive officer of the Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association (AGCSA), the forerunner to the current day Australian Sports Turf Managers Association. Sadly, in late September, Euan lost his battle with Multiple System Atrophy, 14 years after he had been diagnosed with the rare neurological condition. He was farewelled in early October, with his funeral attended by a number of former turf industry colleagues, among them past AGCSA president Mark Couchman who gave a eulogy on Euan’s career and legacy. It was Euan, together with the AGCSA Board of the time – president Peter Frewin, Couchman, Peter Schumacher and Craig New – who took the bold decision to start up the publication you currently have in your hands. Founded in 1999, with the first edition featuring that now-famous ‘frog on the ball’ cover, Australian Turfgrass Management (ATM) was one of a number of initiatives that Euan got off the ground during a highly productive decade in charge of the AGCSA, another of course being the launch of AGCSATech. While I didn’t have the fortune of working alongside Euan – he left in late 2002 whereas I started April 2003 – his influence was pronounced and still is over a quarter of a century later, having established many of the initiatives which are now cornerstones of the association’s operations and identity. In 2016, the AGCSA Board made the unique call to award Euan the association’s highest honour – the Distinguished Service Award – in recognition of his influential work in the association’s formative years. Ironically, it was an award that Euan had played a major part in instituting back in 1997, never with the thought that one day he might be receiving it. In the lead up to that year’s conference in Melbourne where he was to receive the award, I was lucky to spend a morning with Euan and wife Jacqui at their Beaconsfield Upper home, reflecting on his time with the association. It was one of two interviews I did with Euan – the other a year earlier on the formation of ATM for our 100th edition special (Volume 17.5) – and it was amazing to hear his recollections, humorous anecdotes and get an appreciation of the sheer amount of work that was achieved in those early days. As part of the 2016 interview, we also did a pre-recorded video of Euan’s acceptance speech in case, due to ill health, he couldn’t make it to the awards dinner. Thankfully he was able to attend and accept the award in person on what was a memorable night. I had completely forgotten about the recordings (there were a few takes...) until I stumbled across them while preparing a tribute for The Cut newsletter in the days after his passing. Given that his condition rendered Euan non-verbal for the final two years of his life, being able to share those recordings and interviews with Jacqui and the family was heartening. I clearly recall during the interviews and on the award night itself, the humbleness which Euan projected about his contributions. While he did indeed initiate and deliver many things while in office, he never claimed sole credit for the association’s progress. He was always quick to acknowledge the collective effort and the support he received from progressive boards of the time and the AGCSA membership whom he proudly served and had great admiration for. Euan’s career with the AGCSA also serves as a reminder that significant change doesn’t need to begin with the backing of huge resources. The association had little in the way of money or infrastructure when he was appointed, but it did have a board willing to back change and also back an enthusiastic, young executive who despite admitting he was “green as green could be” had plenty of ideas and was prepared to rattle a few cages in order to bring them to life. In the days following his passing, it was perhaps Peter Frewin – “The Frew” as Euan called him in his acceptance speech – who summed up Euan’s legacy best. A fellow Distinguished Service Award recipient who would become AGCSA CEO himself, Frewin wrote: “I was privileged enough to work closely with Euan over many years and while he may have been small in stature he was a giant of the professional golf/turf industry when it was learning to walk in the modern era. Under Euan’s watch many great initiatives came to life that are now entrenched in the turf industry. “It never ceased to amaze me how calm, considered and composed he was even in very tense and stressful situations – and believe me there were many! For the new generation of turf managers it would be worth researching Euan to see how his input has greatly influenced how the industry is shaped today.” Hopefully this edition, which includes a tribute to Euan starting on page 36, will provide a little of that insight. Vale Euan, and thank you. Enjoy the read…

Brett Robinson, Editor SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER JULY-AUGUST 2026 2025

FOREWORD THINKING WITH MARK UNWIN, CEO

‘Sports turf management’ added to apprenticeships priority list

he past few months have been busy for the ASTMA as we build on the success of the recent Melbourne conference and prepare for next year’s event on the Gold Coast (21-24 June, 2027). Reviewing Melbourne’s outcomes and member feedback has been an important part of that process, helping us shape another valuable opportunity for learning, connection and collaboration. Alongside this planning, the team has continued supporting research trials, events, training, membership renewals and communications to keep members informed. It has been particularly encouraging to see increased enrolments through our RTO, together with additional short-course delivery. As we develop our training offering for 2027, our focus remains on practical, accessible education that responds to members’ needs. This includes further irrigation training and short courses, alongside expanded opportunities in business, leadership and management. These remain among the most frequently requested training areas across Australia, reflecting the broader responsibilities turf managers carry in managing people, budgets and facilities. We expect to share more towards the end of 2026, with delivery options planned from early 2027. Developing future leaders is also central to the Future Turf Managers’ Initiative (FTMI), delivered in conjunction with Silver Partner Jacobsen. We recently announced the 2026-27 cohort following a record number of applications. The quality of submissions again made selection challenging and demonstrated the ambition and talent within our industry. The ASTMA and Jacobsen congratulate this year’s 24 successful applicants: Ryan Blackbourn (Manukorihi GC, NZ); Zach Bourchier (Cheltenham GC, Vic); Michael Clavin (Royal Melbourne GC, Vic); Nick Counsell (The Kew GC, Vic); Chris Dawson (Maroochy River GC, Qld); Chad Gilmour (Harden CC, NSW); Jorjia Hogg (Newcastle City Council, NSW); Liam Kirkman (Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions, Vic); Daniel Koopman (Elanora CC, NSW); James McElgunn (Melbourne Racing Club, Vic); Nicholas McGlade (Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club, Vic); Connor McLellan (Mount Lawley GC, WA); Glenn O’Sullivan (Royal Queensland GC, Qld); Hayden Riley (Castle Hill CC, NSW); Caleb Rouse (Rosewood Kauri Cliffs, NZ); Kevin Samson (Titirangi GC, NZ); Simon Sczesny (Coopers Stadium, SA); Alistair Shannon (Flinders GC, Vic); Latisha Smith (Waratah Wynyard Council, Tas); Daniel Swainston (Cromer GC, NSW); Jaxon Thorne (Royal Perth GC, WA); Matt White (Roseville GC, NSW); Tim Wise (Manningham Council, Vic); and Lachlan Wright (South Lakes GC, 4

SA). The next edition of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal will include profiles on this year’s successful cohort. Congratulations to everyone selected and a sincere thanks to all those who applied. For those unsuccessful, I encourage you to continue pursuing development opportunities and consider applying again. Commencing in mid-November, the cohort will be supported by mentors Ryan Stores (Royal Canberra GC), Harry Middleton (Muriwai Golf Links, NZ), Matthew Oliver (Suncorp Stadium, Qld) and Simon Blagg (Eastlake GC, NSW). We greatly appreciate their contribution. On advocacy, I am pleased to report the inclusion of ‘sports turf management’ on the

ASTMA, GMA CONFIRM 2028 CONFERENCE PLANS The ASTMA and Golf Management Australia (GMA) have confirmed their respective conference plans for 2028. Following combined conferences in 2022, 2024 and 2026, which delivered record attendances and very high satisfaction ratings, the two associations will host separate national conferences in 2028. ASTMA will stage its 2028 conference in Brisbane in June, while GMA will hold a special event in Sydney in September, marking 75 years to the month when the association was formed at Avondale Golf Club in Sydney in 1953. The ASTMA and GMA look forward to supporting each other’s events in 2028 and will continue to work closely on areas of shared interest including preliminary discussions for the conference in 2030. Further details on both conferences will be announced in due course. “The combined conferences have been an outstanding success and have strengthened the relationship between our two associations, our respective members and industry partners and sponsors,” says GMA CEO Paul Vardy. “We are proud of what has been achieved together so far and remain committed to working collaboratively across the golf industry.”

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

Australian Apprenticeships Priority List (AAPL). The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website records 21 September 2026 as the latest modification date for the published list, which includes the Certificate III and Diploma of Sports Turf Management. This follows sustained association advocacy through submissions, government engagement and evidence demonstrating workforce shortages, recruitment challenges and the importance of our apprenticeship pipeline. It builds on our successful work supporting reinstatement to the Occupation Shortage List in 2025. For eligible full-time apprenticeships commencing or recommencing in 2026, employers may receive up to $2500 through the Priority Hiring Incentive during the first year. Eligible apprentices may separately receive up to $2500 through the Australian Apprentice Training Support Payment over their first two years. These payments can help employers invest in training and assist apprentices with living costs. Entitlements depend on individual circumstances; members and apprentices should contact their Apprentice Connect Australia Provider to confirm eligibility, claims and deadlines. Our advocacy throughout 2025 and 2026 has also sought inclusion of relevant sports turf occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). This remains a separate priority and we will update members when further information becomes available. I sincerely thank the state superintendent and sports turf management associations and individuals who supported our submissions and contributed evidence. Your involvement strengthened our representation and ensured employers’ and apprentices’ experiences were heard. Attracting people into turf management, supporting employers and helping apprentices complete their qualifications remain central to our work. Across these activities, our aim is consistent – to provide members with useful support today while strengthening the industry’s capacity for the future. Your feedback continues to guide those priorities and I thank members, partners and volunteers for their ongoing involvement in the association’s work. Finally, I am delighted to welcome a new member to the ASTMA starting mid-November. Chelcie Keenan will be joining the team as Events Assistant, supporting Simone Staples and the wider team across the FTMI, the Australian Sports Turf Management Conference and short-course events, while also assisting state associations with event delivery. We look forward to the contribution she will make to our member services.

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SOCIALS

Best

on ground ATM showcases some of the best social media posts and images from across the sports turf industry in recent times...

TIM FANKHAUSER “Just a light dusting on Mt Wellington today.” (AGCSATech agronomist Tim Fankhouser snapped the picturesque North Hobart Oval while inspecting it in mid-October after a cold snap hit the Apple Isle.)

MARK HOLMES AND JORDAN PHILLIPS Another footy season has come and gone and a few members of the turf industry saluted on their big days in September. Programmed’s Mark Holmes, pictured middle above (wearing the cap), coached the Peninsula Raiders 35s Reserves side to a premiership in the AFL Masters Victorian Metro Football League, beating Box Hill North by 71 points to go through the season undefeated. Meanwhile, Newcastle Golf Club assistant superintendent Jordan Phillips (right) collected a fifth consecutive grand final win, helping the Waratah Mayfield Cheetahs trounce the Cardiff Cobras 30-0 in the Newcastle & Hunter Valley Rugby League A Grade men’s final, before duly announcing his retirement – “Time to let the old body rest.” 6

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

#THANKASUPER Tuesday 8 September saw the fifth annual International Thank a Superintendent Day, with many clubs across the country recognising the hard work and dedication of their superintendents and course crews. Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Royal Canberra GC; Stewart Drayton (East Geelong GC); the Melville Glades GC crew; Idris Evans (WAGC); Mike Bosley and Jason Churchill (The Pat GC); and Tim Warren and Adam Fry (Glenelg GC); Arguably the best post, however, came from one course superintendent to another. Kasey Williams @kasesports.turf, who is superintendent at Harvey Golf Club south of Perth, posted the following about her former boss, Busselton Golf Club superintendent Lance Knox… “On today’s #ThankASuper I would like to thank my one and only past superintendent @lanceknox_golfsuper. Thank you for supporting, encouraging and inspiring me through my apprenticeship to become a superintendent. Thank you for seeing something in a young 16yo girl back in 2021 and for your continued support during and after leaving your team to become superintendent of Harvey Golf Club. Thank you also to all of the other superintendents in the industry for all of their support especially in the last 12 months at Harvey Golf Club.” SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

REDEVELOPMENTS

Huntingdale

reinvented

Back in January, Huntingdale Golf Club fully reopened to members after a major OCM Golf redevelopment. As ATM editor Brett Robinson discovers, for long-serving superintendent Michael Freeman, who notches an impressive 44 years at the club this December, it has been one of the most rewarding, albeit challenging, projects in a storied career, and one which has ultimately put Huntingdale back on the map in the Melbourne Sandbelt.

ichael Freeman can recall like it was yesterday when he pedalled through the gates of Huntingdale Golf Club as a 17-year-old to begin his apprenticeship. Having grown up with a dad who was a golf course superintendent – father Lawrence was in charge at Yarra Yarra Golf Club at the time – he kind of knew what was in store for him on that first day. What he didn’t know then, of course, was that 44 years later he would still be at the same club and following in his old man’s footsteps. Freeman’s identity in many ways is intrinsically linked to Huntingdale which isn’t surprising given that he has spent threequarters of his life on that 53-hectare parcel of land on the eastern fringe of the Melbourne Sandbelt. Superintendent for the past 26 years, the now 61-year-old has ridden the highs and lows that come with working at 8

one of Australia’s high profile clubs. He was front and centre during a halcyon era of Australian tournament golf when the club hosted the Australian Masters, while from a course management perspective he has witnessed major changes in practices and technology, developed and mentored staff and overseen numerous capital works and course improvement projects. All of those experiences, however, pale when compared to what has transpired at Huntingdale over the past three years. A complete reimagining of the course by OCM Golf has brought about generational change to a property Freeman knows so intimately. It’s still Huntingdale, but not as he once knew it. It’s a far better version of a course which he has invested so much into and he has been proud to have played a key role in what, in time, will be looked back upon as a significant juncture in the club’s near 90-year history.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

On all levels, this latest project was different to any other he had been involved in. When it was first mooted that the club was looking at tackling a project of such magnitude, Freeman knew the demands would be huge, not only on him but his crew as well. This redevelopment, however, was personal. Just as he has reinvented himself many times as a superintendent across his career, this project also represented a chance for the course to do likewise and reinstate itself among the conversation as one of Australia’s best. As Freeman says, he was never not going to be a part of it, and while it did test him at times, it ultimately provided him with one of the most rewarding experiences of his career.

DROPPING THE BOMB The origins of Huntingdale’s redevelopment go back several years. Indeed, when Australian Turfgrass Management spoke to Freeman

Above: Huntingdale superintendent Michael Freeman ticks over 44 years at the club this December

PHOTOS: GARY LISBON/HUNTINGDALE GC

Left: Between October 2023 and May 2025, OCM Golf dropped a bomb on the Huntingdale property, dramatically changing the layout, in particular the ‘northern paddock’. Pictured are the 18th (left) and 12th (right) which share a huge new double green

ahead of the club hosting the 2022 ASTMA Golf Championship (ATM Volume 24.3), the club was just about to vote on the options which OCM had drawn up. The club had for a long time been considering how best to address the future of the course. With many of their Sandbelt competitors having undertaken improvement works in recent years, it was important that Huntingdale keep itself relevant and improve its offering to members. While subjective, its position in the biennial top 100 course rankings was also continuing to head south (its last rankings in 2022 were in the low to mid50s) which was due to a number of inherent issues with the course that needed fixing. Principal among them was improving the performance of the greens (read more, page 10), opening up an increasingly hemmed in layout and making the most of Huntingdale’s relatively compact property and improving

the course’s native vegetation. Overall, it was a prime opportunity to bring the course back into alignment with its Sandbelt heritage after a number of design changes over the years, most of which were done to toughen up Huntingdale for tournament play, had steered it down a different path to its venerable counterparts. To remedy those issues, OCM canvassed two redesign options to the membership. The first, and conservative option, involved concentrating on greens, tees and bunker complexes while leaving the existing layout largely intact. The second option was to literally drop a bomb on the course and have a bit of fun. Considerable time was spent educating and engaging with the members, with OCM director Mike Cocking walking members through the proposed changes and helping them understand their design intent. In the

end it proved a no-brainer and more than 86 per cent voted for the more ambitious option which, as Freeman agrees, was the correct and necessary path to take. Starting in October in 2023 and finishing in May 2025, OCM definitely dropped that bomb. Throughout that time Freeman, his assistant Damien McCartan and the Huntingdale crew, many of whom worked alongside the OCM team during the construction phase, were heavily involved in the resulting transformation. Despite some delays which pushed out the eventual opening to January 2026, the end result has been, as Freeman describes it, “overwhelming”.

EXCEPTIONAL TRANSFORMATION The changes to Huntingdale begin as soon as you drive through the gate. Where the 16th once was is now the club’s new practice facility – chipping green and driving range – with a new 36-megalitre dam down the far end on land that previously housed the old par three 15th green and 16th tee complex. The old dam on the 17th (which is now the 11th) was filled in, with the new dam to ultimately connect into the Dingley Recycled Water Scheme which is due to come on line in 2027/2028. Stepping out from the clubhouse, you are immediately greeted by the impressive new 2600m2 12th/18th double green (see photo page 10) which snakes around a cluster of four central bunkers and is reminiscent of the 8th/16th double green at Kingston Heath. Across the pathway behind the back of that complex is another double green – the new practice putter which flows into the back of the new 10th green (old 9th) which measures a combined 2300m2. The 1st hole (pictured top of page 11) provides an immediate introduction to some of OCM’s primary design changes. Previously, dense vegetation and trees restricted views and made the hole feel particularly tight. The redevelopment removed vegetation along SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

REDEVELOPMENTS the length of the hole, altered the bunker configuration and opened the fairway corridor which now links in with the new adjacent 10th (old 9th), a theme which continues throughout much of the property now. The first four holes, which head towards the southern boundary, still follow the same routing as the old layout, with the major changes being the greens complexes, bunkering, greater connectivity between fairways and the short cut greens surrounds and tees, in addition to greatly expanded naturalised areas. The green on the par three 3rd, which was previously ringed by five large bunkers, has been tilted on a 45-degree angle and now boasts a massive single wasteland style bunker, almost as large as the green itself, on the right-hand side. Perhaps the most dramatic of all the changes, however, is the transformation of

that southern section, in particular holes 5 and 8. Earlier in the club’s history, the 5th was a short par four, but during the Spencer-NewtonGrant reworking of 2000 it was turned into a long uphill par three. It had always been an unpopular change and therefore one of OCM’s easier fixes. Using that land, as well as Huntingdale’s par three 19th hole directly behind it, OCM have turned it back into a stunning 280m short par four, with huge waste bunkers running up either side of the hole which pinch in about 50 metres out from the green. Guarded at the rear by two large bunkers, that green is effectively on the same bit of ground as the old 19th green. Holes 6 and 7 – the club’s back-to-back par fives – remain, but their fairways are now joined up in two sections following tree removal and lead back to Huntingdale’s prized

new addition – the par three 8th. Playing the opposite way (east-west) to the 5th and directly adjacent, it measures just 130m with a huge waste bunker running from tee to green up the left-hand side which separates it from the 5th (see before and after photos of the two holes page 13). “It’s an exceptional transformation,” says Freeman of the 8th. “It was previously this weird triangle of no man’s land just off to the side of the 7th green and old 8th tee. It was covered in tea tree and had basically been our dumping ground for 60-odd years, so there was all sorts of stuff in there. To get it where it is today is a real credit to the OCM guys. “With the 5th, the club was always keen to reinstate it as a short par four. The membership hated the par three and it was never received well. Everyone was in love with that old 5th which was a slight dogleg to the right with

REINSTATING THE SANDBELT CHARACTERISTICS OF HUNTINGDALE’S GREENS

ne of the most closely scrutinised aspects of the Huntingdale Golf Club redevelopment was the new greens profile. When they were reconstructed back in 1990s, all the native sand was stripped out and replaced with a USGA-spec sand. Over the years those profiles had become increasingly difficult to manage due to their much higher infiltration rate, especially drying them down in order to get that trademark Sandbelt firmness and compaction. Below, project consultant John Neylan outlines the process to source and select a new profile sand for the Huntingdale greens which were sown with Pure Distinction creeping bentgrass… The criteria for selecting the sand for the greens at Huntingdale Golf Club (and also The National Golf Club’s Long Island course) was relatively simple. The sand needed to be able to produce a firm surface and to have a moderate drainage rate. Based on previous experience in selecting a sand for the greens at Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club, the sand needed to be a medium-to-fine sand with about three per cent silt plus clay to assist in locking the particles together and producing a firm surface. It was also important that the capillary porosity and the aeration porosity were within an acceptable range. While the criteria were relatively simple, sourcing the ‘perfect’ sand did take some effort. It is important to note that any of the sands considered to be suitable were a blend of at least 2-3 components. Initially, there were four quarries inspected and 17 sand samples collected and tested for suitability. During the quarry inspections other important factors were considered including

The new Huntingdale greens are a California style of construction and have been seeded with Pure Distinction. Pictured is the 2600m2 12/18 double green (12 to the left, 18 on the right)

capability of producing the same sand over a two-year period, ability to deliver the required quantity in a timely fashion, the experience of the drivers and the cleanliness of trucks (to avoid contamination). Sandbelt Industries had the most suitable sand and were awarded the contract and with Matthew Burton managing the production played an extremely important role. Across the project the following quality control program was in place: l Confidence limits were applied to the sand selected, allowing for an acceptable range to be developed against which future sand testing could be evaluated. l Sampling and testing were undertaken on every 600-tonne stockpile with 21 tests undertaken. No stockpile was delivered until it was approved for use.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

The testing criteria included particle size distribution, hydraulic conductivity (at 16 and 32 drops), porosity, bulk density, coefficient of uniformity, fineness modulus and total fines. It was noted that the bulk density was an important measure and provided an important guide in the field in the level of compaction required to optimise the characteristics of the sand (e.g. firmness). l The hydraulic conductivity range set for the sand was 130-200mm/hr. l All testing was undertaken by CivilTest. During the sand production process there was an occasional stockpile that was marginally out of specification. With the rigorous standards that were in place, these stockpiles were re-blended and then tested again for approval. l

three bunkers around the green, but I don’t think that it was in the same class as what is there now. It’s just a great section of the course.” The inclusion of the 8th means that the old 8th and 9th holes now play as the 9th and 10th, with the 11th hole starting on the northern side of the clubhouse, where the old 17th used to be. That ‘northern paddock’ formed the bulk of the first stage and encompassed the biggest tranche of earthworks during the project. That included decommissioning and filling in the old dam, construction of the new dam, as well as removal of the substantial mounding that had previously flanked the old practice range, which is now the new 18th fairway. The new 12th plays down the same corridor as the old 18th, before the layout crosses back over with holes 13-15 playing along similar routing to the old 10-12 stretch. Holes 16 and 17 reside on the same ground as the old 13 and 14. “To see how the place has been pulled to pieces and the work that OCM has done has been incredible,” says Freeman. “At the start, particularly with the northern paddock, I found it hard to visualise what it was going to look like, but Mike’s vision was just exceptional. “He had no doubt in his mind what was going to be done and knew it was going to work. His confidence in that area was brilliant and when it all started to come together that’s when I could see where it was all heading.”

NEW-LOOK LANDSCAPE One of the key drivers behind the redevelopment was to improve the club’s out of play areas and native vegetation. Taking inspiration from the many projects which have been successfully undertaken across the Sandbelt in recent years, Huntingdale

Huntingdale’s new-look 1st hole provides an immediate introduction to some of OCM’s primary design changes. The redevelopment removed vegetation along the length of the hole, altered the bunker configuration and opened the fairway corridor which links in with the new adjacent 10th

has made serious inroads into improving this aspect of the course and has been one of the more fulfilling aspects for Freeman. Thirty-odd years of hosting the Australian Masters had caused significant degradation across much of the property, with Freeman estimating they had lost as much as 90 per cent of their vegetation due to spectator damage. Compounding that was the encroachment of trees on what was an already tight layout which not only impacted design intent and playability but also the vegetation communities beneath. At the VGCSA’s September 2026 education meeting held at Huntingdale, OCM Golf design associate Rob Swift outlined how opening up the layout was a key focus of their work, with the objective to retain Huntingdale’s established character while creating more openness and definition. Strategic tree removal

was a prime component of that, with the aim of establishing a more deliberate hierarchy of vegetation. Selected large canopy trees, including manna gums, were retained, but much of the denser middle-storey vegetation was removed. That opened up Huntingdale’s existing landform and revealed some much more undulating terrain than anticipated. It also afforded the club the opportunity to promote substantially larger out of play areas which have gone from one hectare preredevelopment to upwards of seven hectares. Working with vegetation consultant Kate Torgersen (Environmental Golf Solutions), a distinctive Sandbelt plant palette was devised which has seen more than 33,000 tubestock planted throughout the course, along with extensive hydroseeding of wallaby grass (around 5ha).

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REDEVELOPMENTS As with any revegetation works, the next couple of years are going to be important, especially keeping on top of weeds. With all the soil disturbance during construction, a lot of weed seed was brought to the surface, with Huntingdale staff meticulously using knapsack sprayers, dabbers and hand-weeding to keep the new areas as clean as possible. Playing a significant role in establishing the club’s developing landscape is new vegetation manager Kim Adair who started with the club in January. While much of the planting had already been undertaken prior to his arrival, Adair, who has come from a bushland management background, is now ensuring that what’s gone into the ground – and the

many surprises that have regenerated as a result of the works (read more in the panel below) – continue to prosper. Adair is ably assisted by Sharni Watts and Richard Balcher who work four days a week on the vegetation crew and who have done the lion’s share of hand-weeding in those new areas. “Without doubt the biggest change has been to our native vegetation areas and having Kim on board now is a tremendous asset for the club,” says Freeman. “He has come from a non-golf background and I think it has been a huge eye-opener for him in terms of the potential that is here and what golf courses in general can produce in terms of native vegetation.

“I can’t talk highly enough of Kim and what he has brought to the team. He’s an exceptional leader and really passionate about what he does, hard-working and honest. Importantly, he’s educating our guys as well. Given how important this component of the redevelopment is, you need all staff buying in to that vision to make sure we get a positive outcome. Kim is such a good educator in that respect and we are making sure to help him out with whatever he needs.”

ALWAYS CHALLENGES, ALWAYS LEARNING A project of this magnitude was certainly never going to be without its challenges and there

NATIVE RECRUITMENT LEADING TO SURPRISE DISCOVERIES AT HUNTINGDALE

t the VGCSA’s September 2026 education meeting, Huntingdale Golf Club vegetation manager Kim Adair spoke passionately about what is currently in motion at the club in terms of the out of play areas and some of the wonderful discoveries they have been making out on the course. Similarly, he was also bullish about the positive role golf clubs undertaking such projects can contribute to the enhancement of local biodiversity. “Since starting with the club, I’ve just seen it get better and better,” says Adair of Huntingdale’s new-look landscape. “The wallaby grass has gone crazy. Areas that were sparse at the beginning of this year are now thick and luscious. The plants that were put in last year are now knee-height and flowering and they’re only going to get better from here. “What has surprised me most is the native recruitment we have been getting. On the 10th tee carry, for example, when we go through and do our hand-weeding, we can see all this native broom spurge coming through which you don’t often get. There are a lot of native grasses coming through and also a lot of smaller herbaceous plants that we wouldn’t normally spend the money on buying from a nursery, but they’re just there and there are hundreds of them. En masse they look spectacular. “The native recruitment we’re getting from those areas that were previously just bracken and trees, once the ground has been scraped back and disturbed and with the extra sunlight now hitting these areas due to the reduction in the canopy, all the native seed which was in the ground is coming back to life. “We have also discovered native terrestrial orchids. There are probably 10-12 sites around the course – on 14 and also around 12 and 18 – where we’ve found native sun orchids, greenhoods and lots of onion 12

Huntingdale’s new-look par three 15th (previously the 12th)

orchids which we previously had no idea about. But again, with our meticulous handweeding, we’ve been going through and finding them. “In some of those areas we have 30 orchids coming up in two square metres, which is just spectacular. We don’t know what particular species of orchid they are yet because they’re pretty hard to tell apart, but hopefully when they flower this year we’ll be able to do that. I can’t wait to see them in flower and for everyone to enjoy them.” For Adair, such discoveries reinforce the potential of golf courses to contribute to urban biodiversity. Huntingdale occupies a significant area within a highly developed urban environment and he believes that the work going on there, as well as at other Sandbelt courses, can significantly improve local flora and fauna communities. “I came from a strong environmental background, but even I didn’t know that golf courses were doing this sort of work,” states Adair, who prior to joining Huntingdale worked in his family’s bushland management business. “Every time I speak to someone and say, ‘I work at a golf course’ they say

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

‘What?’. I have to inform them about all the fantastic work that goes on here and at other golf courses. “As far as vegetation on golf courses goes, I think there are fantastic opportunities. Here for example we’ve got 53 hectares of greenspace which in an urban environment is pretty unique. There are also five or six other golf courses in the surrounding area as well and we’re all going the same way with revegetation and encouraging more local wildlife to come onto the course. “We’ve put up hundreds of bird boxes and bat boxes for instance, so I think there are only positive things that can come from this. I don’t know what the answer is to getting more recognition of the work that is going on, but it’s something that the clubs should look at working on and promoting together. “I’m not saying we’re trying to turn these places into nature reserves. At the end of the day, these are golf courses and that’s what they’re always going to be. But if we can set aside a small amount of land to preserving and promoting these areas, then I think that’s a fantastic outcome.”

have been plenty which have tested, and continue to test, Freeman’s resilience and that of his crew. The single biggest challenge has been managing the amount of Poa annua that has come up in the fairways and surrounds. A number of sulfonylurea herbicides have simply had no impact and Freeman is currently playing around with different pre-emergents with varying levels of success. He held off going out with Roundup yet as areas are still establishing and while the situation is “doing his head in”, he says it is simply a matter of continually chipping away. The crew have certainly become adept at picking Poa, with a huge amount of hand-weeding also a part of control strategies at present. Turf establishment also caused a number of headaches. A delay getting a town water permit for the new greens irrigation meant some – the practice green, 10, 14 and 16 – had to be sowed during summer and irrigated using dam water which was high in bicarbonates and pH levels. It was decided to wait until the permit was through before continuing, which meant the crew at one point had 10 new greens all come online at once to grow in and establish. Some of the warm-season surfaces were problematic too. An area on the new 11th (old 17th) was muck planted late (early March) due to timeline commitments. The couchgrass just sat there and compounded by a wet winter there was more Poa grown than couch. After handpicking every piece of Poa in that area, it was then line-planted in spring. Due to a lack of maturation in around four hectares of turf, mainly down the southern end of the course where the final lot of works occurred, it was decided to push the original full 18-hole reopening from November 2025 to late January 2026 to give those areas the best chance to cover over. While Freeman says it wasn’t ideal for members, who were still able to get a round thanks to the generous support of other Sandbelt clubs, they simply didn’t want to risk the turf at such a critical stage. Upon reopening, rounds were initially restricted to 700 a week, with discussions still being had as to what the best figure will be annually and balancing everything from member play to guests and corporate golf with the wear and tear on the new surfaces. Freeman suggests that a sustainable figure would be likely somewhere between 44,000 to 48,000 rounds a year. As well as the on-course challenges, there were also plenty of personal challenges for Freeman. If anything, the redevelopment reaffirmed the old mantra that you are never too old to learn, even if you do have 44 years behind you. Such lessons have been some of the most valuable takeaways for Freeman over the past couple of years.

One of the more spectacular changes is the addition of the par three 8th hole which sits on land that was once used as a dump site (pictured top). It sits adjacent to the new 5th, which has been transformed back into a short par four, with a large sandy waste separating them (pictured above)

“When you’ve been running your own course for such a long time, taking a step back can be really difficult,” reflects Freeman. “Wrestling with that was probably my biggest challenge at times and I’m sure most superintendents could relate to that. I wanted to be heavily involved – probably too much – but you have to step back and let the experts do their job. “I know I’m not the easiest guy to get along with at times and there were a few times where ‘grumpy Michael’ came out, but for me I just had to take a step back and relax a little. The last thing I wanted was to be that person who was slowing the project down or making it all about myself. It was all about the club and doing what was best for it. “There were also a few times where a little bit of self-doubt started to creep in and you questioned yourself. When things go a bit south, you ask yourself ‘Am I doing things right?’ and you sit on it internally and chew yourself out about things. “I definitely had my moments where I felt overawed due to the scale of what was going

on. So, I just looked at it as taking each day at a time. We knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. You could feel, especially towards the end, that we were starting to close in on the job and from there it was just fine-tuning and getting everything where we wanted it and making that last push.”

DISPLAYING ITS FULL POTENTIAL Whether it’s the new routing, revitalised greens or the flourishing new native landscape, for Freeman the Huntingdale redevelopment has been an immensely proud chapter in his storied career. Achieving the success it has had to date would not have been possible without the support of a lot of people and companies, but ultimately he saves his highest praise for his crew. Right from the get go Freeman said to the club that in order for the redevelopment to be successful, they needed an expanded crew to not only assist with construction and establishment but to then maintain it to a high level afterwards. To that end, across the course of the project the Huntingdale crew has gone SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

REDEVELOPMENTS from 15 up to 22 at times, all of whom have been intimately involved in every phase of the project. In Damien McCartan, who has come a long way since first lobbing at the club as a seasonal greenkeeper from Ireland in 2013, Freeman has what he regards is one of the best assistants around and together with the likes of recent arrivals such as Adair has proved invaluable in helping guide the crew and realising the club’s bold new vision. And that vision is slowly being recognised outside the club’s gates. In its latest top 100 course rankings released at the start of 2026, Australian Golf Digest had Huntingdale 18th, the club’s best ranking since 1998 and up an impressive 35 places from 2022.

Commenting on its upward trajectory, the Digest judges noted: “With a new par 3 (the 8th) and a considered re-routing of several holes plus nimble tree removal across the site, the modern Huntingdale today is finally displaying its full potential and is the poor cousin of the Sandbelt no more.” Design brief met, job done! “Is it my swansong?” muses Freeman about the redevelopment and his tenure at Huntingdale. “I honestly don’t know. I’m 61 now. I’m still extremely passionate about what I do. I was all for the redevelopment and was always going to be part of it and I have been given an extraordinary opportunity to help put the club in a better place for the future which I think we have done.

“I’ve been very lucky in my time here to be involved in a lot of things, especially with all the tournaments, but it’s pretty rare that you get to rebuild a whole golf course from the ground up across a two-year period. So, without question, I think this has to rank as the number one highlight of my career. “The most pleasing thing is that I haven’t heard one negative comment from a member. Everybody is loving the changes that have been made. They’re overwhelmed by what’s happened here. To see people happy, excited and in love with their club again is a fantastic achievement. We’ve gone from being a club ranked in the 50s, that wasn’t particularly sought after, to now being back in the top 20 and a talking point in Australian golf.”

HUNTINGDALE GOLF CLUB REDEVELOPMENT: FACTS AND FIGURES DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OCM Golf, led by director Mike Cocking, design associate Rob Swift and head shaper Jason McCarthy, began construction in October 2023 and were completed by May 2025, with 2-4 staff on site at any one time. OCM managed all aspects of construction up to the point of seeding, sprigging or turfing. Post-grassing, each hole was handed over to the Huntingdale crew for grow in. OCM equipment used included two 9-tonne dump trucks, two 13t excavators, a 5t excavator, Posi-track, dozer and John Deere bunker rake.

CONTRACTORS John Neylan (agronomy and sand selection); Sandbelt Industries (sand); Kate Torgersen (revegetation); Ways With Water (irrigation design); Superior Green (irrigation installation); Australian Seed and Turf (solid turf and sprigging); SJM Turf and Civil (fairway drainage); Fisher and Fisher and DWE (water storage); Hillview Quarries (screenings); Drouin Tree Services (tree removal); JB Hydroseed (seeding greens, wallaby grass).

TURF Pure Distinction creeping bentgrass greens; Santa ana couchgrass fairways, tees and surrounds.

IRRIGATION Toro Lynx system, hard-edged sprinklers, precision irrigation. 1100 irrigation heads throughout the property. Huntingdale is tapping into the new Dingley Recycled Water Scheme and as part of that infrastructure was put into the ground to use the Class A water once it comes online, in addition to its existing stormwater harvesting and bore sources. Each green also now has a separate potable water ring main. 14

With the addition of the new par three 8th, holes 1-10 of the new routing play south of the clubhouse, with the 10th green, pictured above left, backing onto the practice putter and measuring 2300m2 in total

BY THE NUMBERS… 2: Number of hectares of new greens, up from just over a hectare before the redevelopment. That includes the 2600m2 12th/18th and 2300m2 practice putter/10th double greens. 2-10: The number of Huntingdale course staff that assisted OCM during construction. 5: Hectares of wallaby grass hydroseeded. 6: Hectares of sprigged turf. 6-7: Hectares of new naturalised areas, up from 1ha prior to the redevelopment. 10: Hectares of solid turf laid. 10-12: Number of sites across the course where terrestrial orchids, never seen before, have come up as a result of ground disturbance and tree canopy removal. 15 to 20: The increase in size of the Huntingdale crew in order to assist with the works and successfully maintain the new course once reopened. 36: The capacity, in megalitres, of the new irrigation dam. Huntingdale now has 50-plus megalitres of on-site water storage.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

44: The number of years course superintendent Michael Freeman will notch up at Huntingdale this December, including the past 26 as superintendent. 90: The estimated percentage amount of vegetation lost across the course due to damage sustained while hosting the Australian Masters for more than three decades. 100s and 100s: The number of hours spent hand-weeding the new native areas, in particular by crew members Sharni Watts and Richard Balcher, and picking Poa. 8000: Lineal metres of fairway drainage, in addition to greens drainage, bunker drainage and associated drainage works. All bunkers were fully drained. 13,000: Tonnes of sand for greens and tees construction. Some tees were built from native sand, while others were constructed using imported sand, depending on the ground conditions. Native grey sand mined on site was used for all the bunkers. 33,000: Tubestock planted.

NFL

Putting on a

show

History was made in September when the first NFL regular-season game was played in Australia at the MCG. ATM editor Brett Robinson spoke with NFL Field Director Nick Pappas about his role in facilitating the league’s first foray Down Under and reflects upon a memorable fortnight for the

crews at the MCG and AAMI Park.

t’s hard not to be a little envious of Nick Pappas and the role he now finds himself in after nearly two decades in the sports turf management industry. In his role as the NFL’s Field Director, a position he has held coming up to four years next March, it’s a job that takes him all across the USA, around the world and, in the case of the history-making NFL match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in September, Australia. When the NFL takes its brand to a new country, as it has done with great success for the past two decades, the attention naturally falls on the teams, the high-profile (and wellremunerated) players and the spectacle of game day itself. As Pappas quips, the NFL “likes to put on a show” – and that’s where he and his team come into the equation. 16

Working years in advance – as was the case with the Melbourne game – their role is to ensure that the practice and game-day facilities make NFL teams feel as though they are stepping onto their own fields back home, while also meeting the exacting performance standards of one of the world’s most-watched sporting competitions. Coming to Australia was the latest venture in the NFL’s global expansion, with Melbourne one of three new markets to host regularseason games in 2026. The NFL’s international journey began back in October 2005 when the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played the first regular-season game outside the USA in Mexico City. That game drew 103,467 fans which is still the largest crowd ever for an NFL regular-season game.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

That paved the way for the ‘NFL International Games’, which officially launched in 2007 when the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins played London’s Wembley Stadium. Since then, the series has expanded across Europe, North America and South America, with games hosted in London, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dublin, São Paulo, Mexico City and Toronto. For the 2026 season, the NFL decided to ramp up its international footprint even more with a record-breaking nine regular-season games scheduled, with Melbourne joining Rio de Janeiro and Paris as first-time hosts. The Melbourne game – between two of the league’s biggest franchises in the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams – was the first stop in an exhaustive schedule for Pappas and his team in the first half of the 2026 season. Following the 11 September (Week 1) game at the MCG, Pappas was then off to Brazil to set up Maracanã Stadium for its 27 September (Week 3) fixture featuring the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys. From there the team headed to London for three games in October – two at Tottenham Hotspur’s home ground and a third at Wembley Stadium – before heading over to Paris. After early November matches in Munich and Madrid, the international fixtures will conclude later that month in Mexico City, with the 49ers featuring again against the Vikings.

A TURF BACKGROUND Pappas’ path into sports turf management began, like most in the US, at university. He studied plant, soil and insect sciences at the University of Massachusetts, concentrating in

turf management, with the initial plan to work on golf courses. However, having grown up playing baseball rather than golf, Pappas soon headed into sportsfield management and has been in the sector ever since. Completing his Bachelor of Science in 2012, Pappas then headed south to take on a role with the grounds crew at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium), home to the Miami Dolphins NFL franchise. During his time there he also spent six months working for the Florida Panthers NHL ice hockey team maintaining the grounds at BB&T Center. Between 2013 and 2018 he was on the grounds crew for Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins before joining AMB Sports and Entertainment which owns the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United FC and their shared home venue – Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He initially joined as field manager of the newly-built stadium, overseeing all aspects of the ground across the NFL and MLS seasons, as well as 40 acres (16 hectares) of stadium surrounds. Across more than eight years there, his role expanded to include responsibility for a broader portfolio encompassing field and grounds operations and building operations. A Certified Sports Field Manager (CSFM) through the Sports Field Management Association, Pappas started with the NFL in October 2022, initially overseeing their international games before becoming the NFL’s Field Director in March 2023, a role which has oversight of three distinct pillars. The first involves the league’s “tentpole events” – games hosted by the NFL generally at neutral or international venues. That includes the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and AllStar Game, some preseason games and all the international fixtures. From an operational perspective, Pappas’ responsibilities include scouting facilities, assembling field crews, working with the local stadium teams and overseeing the surface through to game day. The second pillar is supporting the NFL’s domestic clubs. The league has 32 clubs playing across 30 stadiums, each of which must prepare a playing surface that meets the NFL’s standards on a weekly basis. If there are any issues or concerns, Pappas is a resource for them, while he is also responsible for enforcement and compliance to make sure

PHOTOS: MELBOURNE CRICKET CLUB AND BRETT ROBINSON

Opposite: The NFL coming to Australia was the latest venture in the league’s global expansion, with Melbourne one of three new markets in 2026

With star players, like 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, on more than $USD50 million a year, there is a lot of money running around in each NFL team every week which makes field performance of paramount importance

the venue field managers have performed the required testing and uploaded that data into the NFL’s centralised database. Every NFL field is independently audited during the season, while every practice field must also be tested according to a prescribed schedule (most teams have multiple practice fields). Game day fields are tested before every match, with the testing requirements incorporated into NFL policy and tied to the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). “If a field is ever found to be non-compliant or doesn’t get tested, we don’t play on it,” states Pappas. “The standards aren’t anything crazy that are outside the realm of what other sports play on. It just ensures we’re not going to put our athletes on something that doesn’t meet the required standard.” The third pillar is perhaps the area that has undergone the greatest evolution in recent years – player health and safety. Pappas leads the NFL’s athlete research relating to playing surfaces, cleat interaction and other

factors that can influence how players interact with the field. That research has ultimately influenced the way the NFL evaluates surface performance, with Pappas noting “we’re constantly trying to improve our fields and determine what we need to do better.”

CONSISTENT SURFACES One of the challenges facing the NFL and Pappas is the huge range of environmental conditions experienced across the league. The NFL season begins in late summer (preseason games start early August) and extends into the middle of winter, with teams operating across vastly different climates. “One of the challenges for us, obviously, is the size of North America,” Pappas explains. “You’ve got teams in Seattle (in the northwest), Buffalo (in the northeast) and Texas and Florida (in the south). You could have four of those games on the same Sunday and it could be snowing in one place, raining in another, played indoors somewhere else and cold in another location.

As NFL Field Director, Nick Pappas (pictured second from left with the AAMI Park turf team) has a broad role within the NFL Football Operations department. His responsibilities include everything from scouting and preparing international venues, supporting the league’s 32 clubs and overseeing research into playing surfaces and player health and safety

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

NFL

AAMI PARK A HOME AWAY FROM HOME FOR SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

PHOTOS: BRETT ROBINSON

he NFL officially hit Melbourne a week before the 11 September opening round blockbuster at the MCG when the San Francisco 49ers, the NFL’s fifth most valued franchise, landed in town to start preparations for their historic encounter against the Los Angeles Rams. Much of the talk in the leadup to the game centred around the differing travel strategies of both teams, with the 49ers choosing to acclimatise for a week while the Rams flew in just 36 hours before the game. To accommodate both teams, AAMI Park and Marvel Stadium were chosen as practice venues, with AAMI Park becoming home base for the 49ers for the week. That afforded the Melbourne Park turf team, led by Troy Jordan (Head of Horticulture & Sports Grounds) and Jake Anderson (AAMI Park & Sports Ground Coordinator), a unique chance to get up close with one of the game’s most iconic teams and gain an insight into NFL ground setup. All were interested onlookers as NFL Field Director Nick Pappas and his team marked out the field ahead of the 49ers arriving. The ground was then handed back to the AAMI Park team which maintained the field each day in what Anderson described as a terrific learning experience. “We were buzzing,” says Anderson, who has been at AAMI Park for the past two-and-ahalf years. “We relish any new challenge and the NFL’s a big beast. When it first came out that we would be the training venue for the 49ers, the excitement started to build and the fact they called AAMI Park home for the week was pretty special.” With AAMI Park tenant club Melbourne Storm playing their last home game on 20 August – having missed the NRL Finals for the first time since 2010 – Anderson and his team had ample opportunity to get the HERO hybrid ryegrass surface in top condition for the 49ers. While Anderson and his team were well prepared to cater for both teams had the Storm progressed through to the NRL Finals,

The AAMI Park turf crew and NFL grounds team pictured together after setting the ground up for the 49ers. NFL Field Director Nick Pappas is pictured front row, centre (green hoodie)

their early exit certainly negated a potential logistical headache. “It’s a bit of a rare event for Melbourne Storm not to make finals,” says Anderson. “While a disappointing result for them, it put us in a position to be comfortably prepared for the NFL. We had a good two-week period to dial in the surface and make the place look like San Francisco’s home field. We also had a two-week break before the Storm’s final home game, so we took the opportunity to pull out some material, open it up and make sure things were draining nicely. “After the final Storm game we washed everything off straight away so there wouldn’t be any residual lines for the NFL. We did another small renovation and then it was all about dialling in the mowing pattern with our Dennis handmowers. As part of the preparation, I looked at Google images and old 49ers home games online to see what they do. It was a bit different to what the boys were used to, but very exciting.” With the exception of the Sunday, the 49ers held daily two-hour training sessions, with Anderson and his team undertaking their

usual cutting, clean-up and repair practices before and after each session. “I was really happy with how the field came up,” says Anderson. “We locked in the surface firmness and continued to monitor that across the week and did our normal cutting and clean up. They (the NFL) were not overly prescriptive in terms of specific requirements, but they did like the surface a little bit firmer and drier, so we were aiming for around the 20 per cent mark for moisture and 80 gravities on the Clegg.” The Melbourne game was one of nine international NFL fixtures this season and for Pappas it was another opportunity to meet fellow turf managers and exchange knowledge. Pappas has assisted venues all over the world and says that working with local teams is one of the most enjoyable aspects of his role. “I had met Troy and Jake a couple of times before this and had conversations with them and now I’ve met the rest of the crew,” Pappas says of the AAMI Park team. “What’s fun about this industry is that we’re all kind of the same. We all get into it and do it for the same reasons. It’s fun to swap trade secrets and see what each other does. No one does it the ‘right’ way. Everyone just does it a different way and does a great job.” – Nick Creely and Brett Robinson

AAMI Park had a full NFL field marked up (left) along with additional markings for specific offensive, defensive and special teams drills (right)

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

“Because of that variability, the NFL’s philosophy is to ensure the best possible surface is provided for the particular location. If bermudagrass is the best way for you to deliver that in southern Florida, then that’s the route. If a Kentucky bluegrass/ryegrass stitched product is better in Green Bay, Wisconsin, then go that route.” Pappas says the NFL has developed standards designed to account for differences between venues without forcing them into a solution that may be inappropriate for their environment. “We’ve been very methodical about how we’ve implemented our standards, just to ensure that we’re accounting for some of these variables while not creating a standard that then makes them put something in that is a worse product than what they may otherwise have been playing on,” explains Pappas. The other major challenge, of course, is that NFL is played on both natural and synthetic turf, with roughly a 50/50 split currently between the two surface types. The Buffalo Bills franchise became the latest to switch back to a natural turf surface after more than five decades playing on synthetic turf. Their new $USD2.2b open air Highmark Stadium was opened in June and boasts an entirely Kentucky bluegrass surface. As Pappas explains, synthetic turf construction can vary enormously, depending on the carpet, pile height, face weight, infill amount, the underlying pad and other construction characteristics. Hybrid systems also introduce another layer of variation, with differences in stitching density, fibre construction and carpet systems influencing the way a surface performs. The NFL’s objective is therefore not necessarily to make every field physically identical, rather make the playing experience as consistent as possible.

Pappas travelled to Melbourne with a 12-strong NFL field crew who marked up the practice fields at AAMI Park (pictured) and Marvel Stadium, before moving across to the MCG to dress the surface in full game day livery

“Our goal is that all surfaces, regardless of their material makeup, play as similarly and consistently as possible,” says Pappas. “It’s challenging, but that’s the goal.”

BY ANY MEASURE One of the more interesting aspects of Pappas’ role is player health and safety and the research that is going into player-surface interaction. With each club having a season salary cap of just over $USD300 million and with quarterbacks the likes of Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City) earning $USD64m a season, there is a lot of money running around each week which makes surface performance of paramount importance. The NFL works collaboratively with the NFLPA through the Joint Surfaces Committee to develop higher standards and establish greater consistency across NFL

playing surfaces. The committee, comprised of engineers and experts jointly selected by the NFL and the NFLPA, continuously works toward improving both natural grass and synthetic turf playing surfaces through research, collaboration and the implementation of cutting-edge tools that are helping the league better understand each field and drive the development of fields that play safely and more consistently (NFL 2025). This work has seen the development of two specific NFL field assessment tools in recent years: l The Biomechanical Elite Athlete Shoe-Turf Tester (‘The BEAST’) – a towed, motorised traction device which performs both a rotational traction test and a translational drag test that can simulate the same weights and forces exerted by an NFL athlete.

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SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

NFL

FROM AFL TO NFL… AND BACK AGAIN! THE MCG’S WHIRLWIND FORTNIGHT

MASSIVE TEAM EFFORT For HG Turf Group’s Erik Kinlon, the transformation of the MCG surface from NFL back to AFL was the culmination of more than 12 months of planning with Page and his team. Twenty HG staff arrived at the MCG in the hours after the NFL game and once the arena was cleared and bump out completed just after 8pm, they started the removal of the NFL field. In total, that measured just over 7000m2, with a further 450m2 removed in front of the main field and players raceways as cosmetic repairs. Working through the night, HG split its team into two crews and removed the entire area using two KORO Field Topmakers, with milling out completed by 8am Saturday. The spoil material was loaded and carted to a storage facility for recycling. The HG crew returned Sunday to spread an imported sand that had been blended with Canadian peat moss, before laser grading the surface. 20

PHOTOS: MCC AND BRUCE MACPHEE

ustralia’s first NFL regular-season blockbuster made headlines around the world, but no sooner had the San Francisco 49ers completed a comprehensive 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams on 11 September, than the arena team at the MCG swung into action to reconfigure the venue back into football mode for the following weekend’s AFL preliminary final between Hawthorn and Brisbane. With no AFL happening that weekend due to Hawthorn’s win over Fremantle in the first qualifying final the previous week, it significantly eased the pressure on the MCG arena team, led by Matt Page, and HG Turf Group to reinstate the ground. However, there were multiple contingencies in place had the Hawks needed to play a home semi-final. “Because of the nature of AFL Finals, we didn’t know whether we would or wouldn’t have a match in the 24 hours after the NFL Melbourne game,” explains Page. “That drove us to plan as if we were going to host an AFL final match the next day and that we’d be ready regardless of results. “If we did have an AFL final the next day, we would have hosed out the line markings and replaced the turf in the end zones and centre of the ground. But because we ended up with a week between matches, we worked with HG Turf Group to remove all the turf from the full NFL field footprint and replace it. “Turfing finished on the Wednesday afternoon and we painted the ground Thursday in time for the Captain’s Runs on the Friday. While we had full confidence in our ability to turn the ground around immediately, not having to host AFL gave us the luxury of extra time for the new turf to settle and present the ground to our usual high standard.”

The entire NFL field (around 7000m2) was removed and replaced immediately following the 49ers-Rams game in readiness for the following weekend’s AFL preliminary final between Hawthorn and Brisbane

Harvesting of the replacement HERO hybrid turf from HG’s Alexandra-based farm began on Sunday evening, overseen by production manager Chris Goschnick. The first four loads of 1m x 12m ready-to-play rolls – which can weigh between 750-900kg depending on moisture content – were delivered to the MCG ahead of the install crews arriving at 6am Monday. HG deployed two separate teams that worked in tandem. Installation time for 3000m2 was about eight hours which meant the crew were able to walk, fork and fix up any imperfections and roll the turf soon after laying. All up, 25 truckloads of turf (averaging 30 rolls per truck) were ferried from Alexandra, two hours northeast of Melbourne. Turfing was completed by Wednesday afternoon, giving the MCG arena team plenty of time to complete their preparations. “It was a massive team effort,” says Kinlon. “It had been planned for over 12 months and it ran like clockwork. Running two installation crews was a gamechanger and we were super proud of the quality of work that we managed to achieve in such a short time frame.”

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BLOWN AWAY For the MCG arena team, the whole fortnight was quite the blur. It was an event unlike anything they had prepared the ground for before, with a crowd of 100,021 setting what was the seventh largest NFL regular-season attendance in history. MCG arena supervisor Shane Wilson best summed up the feeling of the crew on LinkedIn in the aftermath… “Still a bit blown away by this one,” Wilson wrote. “To see the NFL take over the MCG and experience the scale, atmosphere and spectacle of the event was incredible. It’s one of those moments where I’m reminded just how lucky I am to work at this place and part of a team that gets to deliver events like this. “From a turf perspective, I couldn’t have been prouder of how the surface presented and performed throughout the game. A huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes to prepare the ground for an event of this scale, so seeing it stand up on game day was extremely rewarding. After all these years working at the ’G, there are still days where you stop, look around and realise just how special this place is.” - Brett Robinson

The proprietary STRIKE impact tester (pictured right), which measures how much energy is absorbed by the ground when a player steps on it. Last December, the NFL introduced updated official playing field requirements and guidelines through its ‘Mandatory Practices for NFL Playing Surfaces’ and ‘Playing Surface Best Practices’ documents. The 11 ‘mandatory practices’ (MPs), which cover all surface types, relate to specific requirements and parameters for: impact testing; infill depth and evenness; moisture testing; cleat-surface traction testing; visual inspection of the surface; use of antimicrobial agents; surfaces outside the field of play; re-sodding and turf replacement; new synthetic turf product screening and testing; ‘Enhanced Monitoring Sites’ (grounds that are non-compliant or are impacted by adverse weather); and practice field testing. From the 2026 season, all NFL clubs were required to pick from an approved set of metrics and styles for both natural and synthetic fields and, by the start of the 2028 season, all stadiums, whether domestic or international, will need to comply with those standards. “It’s sort of a red, yellow, green effect, where we’re trying to phase out fields that we have determined to be less ideal than newer fields coming into the industry,” says Pappas. “This is a big step for us. This is something that has been a great outcome from the Joint Surfaces Committee of the work, the deployment and development of devices determining the appropriate metrics and ultimately providing us with a way to substantiate the quality of fields more so than we ever have in the past.” From an impact testing perspective, the new STRIKE device has replaced the Clegg Impact Soil Tester which the NFL used for many years. While the Clegg provided a useful and consistent measurement, player feedback started to raise questions about whether

The STRIKE impact tester has replaced the Clegg to measure NFL surfaces. It generates three measurements – ‘peak G’ (gravities), energy restitution and displacement – with 98 drops performed across a game day field

traditional testing methodology was accurately reflecting how NFL athletes perceived surfaces. “The Clegg was very useful in helping us achieve more consistency immediately,” explains Pappas. “But when we started doing athlete and player surveys we were getting responses that some fields felt hard but the data actually showed that the field tested softer. Conversely, players sometimes described a field as soft when the testing suggested it was harder. So we had this inverse correlation and thought, ‘What’s going on here?’” That question led the NFL, in conjunction with the NFLPA and biomechanical experts Biocore (https://biocorellc.com), to develop the STRIKE device. At first glance, it looks similar to a Clegg and indeed performs a similar function. Like the Clegg, it uses a controlled drop to generate an impact measurement. However, the NFL modified the methodology to more closely replicate the forces and interaction experienced by the players. The device is about twice the mass of the Clegg (it has a 5kg head), is dropped from a uniform

height using a timed electronic release mechanism and incorporates a studded cleat onto the base. It is also wheeled to allow for easier transportation across the ground. The objective behind the STRIKE’s development wasn’t about developing another testing device, but to create a measurement that better represented what an NFL player experiences, which is important given the physical characteristics of NFL athletes. “Our guys are pretty unique,” smiles Pappas. “They’re really big and fast, with a wide range of sizes. Even our smallest guys are pretty big. Players can range from around six feet and 180 pounds to six-foot-seven or six-foot-eight and 300-400 pounds. They’re big guys moving fast. It’s such a unique sport.” The STRIKE device provides three measurements. The NFL’s primary game day compliance measurement is ‘peak G’ (gravities) with an acceptable floor to ceiling range of 45 to 90 across all surfaces, both natural and synthetic. By way of comparison, the preferred range for an AFL field is between 55 and 75 gravities (AGCSATech 2026).

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

NFL The device also provides an energy restitution measurement, giving an indication of how much energy is returned or ‘bounces back’ from the surface. The third measurement is displacement which is effectively how much the mass and cleat displace the surface. Together, those measurements provide the NFL with a broader understanding of how the surface behaves under impact. As part of the testing regime, field managers perform 60 drops of the STRIKE device across both practice and game day fields – at five points across the width of the field at 10-yard intervals from the inside of one end zone to the other (see photo previous page). Game day fields also have additional 38 test locations that cover the area immediately outside the playing boundary. Depending on the surface type, there is also specific timing around when the testing must be conducted (e.g.: within 72 hours and no later than 24 hours prior to kickoff for a natural turf surface).

BRINGING THE NFL DOWN UNDER Preparing for an NFL game overseas involves much more than just turning up and painting the unique field markings and full-colour end zones. Pappas’ role comes under the broader umbrella of NFL Football Operations which, for international games, also looks at the practice sites, accommodation options, transportation, accessibility and proximity between venues. Practice facilities are just as important as game day venues, with a key consideration being privacy. For example, AAMI Park, which was the 49ers home base for a week, went into full lockdown mode, with blackout screens erected throughout to prevent anyone from looking in or recording training sessions. Scouting appropriate training facilities for the Melbourne game began months before it was officially announced. Pappas journeyed to Australia for the first time in December 2024, looking at venues in both Sydney and Melbourne. Once the MCG was locked in, he then came back out last summer to check in

The MCG’s 100,021 crowd was the seventh largest attendance for an NFL regular-season game

again with the facilities and finalise plans for the event itself. AAMI Park and Marvel Stadium were ultimately chosen as the training facilities as they provided the perfect combination of field quality, location, accessibility and, importantly for Pappas, quality turf management teams. “Most of the time when we go to a new facility, for it to be deemed a quality facility where we can play an NFL game, it usually already has a high level of conditioning, the right equipment and expert grounds staff,” says Pappas. “For me, it’s about keeping in close contact with the stadium teams and determining if there’s anything we need to tweak – do we want the surface firmer, how do we want it mown, those kinds of things. “Cutting height, for instance, is more dependent on what the grass type is. We don’t specify a certain height. When we’re playing on cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass or ryegrass, we’re usually going to

want it around 22-25mm. With bermudagrass, we can get even tighter than that, down to around half an inch or five-eighths of an inch.” To set up AAMI Park ahead of the 49ers arriving, Pappas and his crew – which numbered 12 for this trip and is usually anywhere from 10-14 – landed in Melbourne on the Wednesday and were on site the next day. Unlike the Rams, who flew into Melbourne just 36 hours before the game, the 49ers came in a week early to acclimatise, with many pundits agreeing that such a strategy had a positive bearing on them winning the match. With just the main playing surface available at AAMI Park – normally, at home, NFL teams will have multiple practice fields – Pappas’ crew maximised the available space by pushing the main NFL field across to the eastern side of the ground. Primarily hosting rugby league and soccer, the AAMI Park surface is considerably wider than a typical NFL venue (an NFL field is 20m narrower than an NRL field for instance). This allowed them to mark out a full NFL field (360 feet long x 160 feet wide) along with additional markings requested by the 49ers for offensive, defensive and special teams drills on the western side of the ground (see photos bottom of page 18). Once AAMI Park and Marvel had been set up, attention then turned to the MCG. The ground had the full NFL game day livery, including fully-painted end zones in 49ers and Rams colours with logos. A 10-yard wide NFL shield was emblazoned in the middle of the ground between the two 45-yard lines. As well as the one-yard line markings on the edge of the field and through the centre of the ground, there were also six-foot wide painted sidelines and end lines to demarcate the field of play. To create that canvas, Pappas and his crew brought in specialised equipment, including petrol-powered line-markers (Graco LineLazer 3400s), field paint, number and yardage line stencils, tape measures (imperial measurements) and temporary goal posts. “We bring in our specialised equipment which includes some of our paint sprayers and line-markers, layout equipment and things like that,” explains Pappas. “We also bring our own paint. It’s a product we’re comfortable with and we know we can get all of our custom colours for all of the teams and we’re confident in its durability so that it won’t bleed, track or fade. “A lot of our game is centred around ground presentation, which is important for TV. We’re very much a sport that’s built to be watched on TV and we have a lot of viewers watching every game day, so there’s an expectation that it looks a certain way. The NFL likes to put on a show and I really do think it’s one of the best spectacles there is.” The NFL field team brought out specialised equipment, including line-markers, field paint and number and yardage line stencils to mark up the grounds

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

GOLF COURSES

‘Coota’s

resurrection While scars remain even seven years after devastating bushfires tore through the southeast of the country, the town of Mallacoota, fuelled by volunteers and the indomitable human spirit, rebuilt itself stronger than it once was. Following its recent reopening, ATM’s Nick Creely caught up with Mallacoota G&CC superintendent Aaron Donovan about the ambitious and successful rebuild of the local course which was scorched during the fires.

f you visit the isolated but charming Victorian seaside town of Mallacoota today, you could scarcely believe that seven years ago it was the focus of national and international attention for a number weeks during the peak of the Australian summer. Driving through the rugged and tight bushland on the 22-kilometre MallacootaGenoa Road – the only stretch of road in and out of the township – you are immediately captured by the beauty of its surroundings and the essence of nature. But it is also, importantly, quite a humbling experience knowing what the local community endured 24

during what was a tumultuous time in those final hours of 2019. Now famous images and vision of the East Gippsland town under immediate bushfire threat and shut off from the world, locals and tourists sheltering in fear and huddled on the beach as the sky above turned red in near apocalyptic scenes, brought to light the devastating nature of the catastrophic 20192020 Australian bushfire season known as ‘Black Summer’. Etched into history now but with the scars still remaining, Black Summer was one of the most intense fire seasons in Australian history. Spanning more than 10,000 fires,

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

predominantly in the southeast of the country, they burnt through over 24 million hectares, directly taking the lives of 33 people with a further 400 deaths attributed to smoke. It’s environmental and ecological impacts were just as catastrophic, with loss of wildlife exceeding one billion, not to mention the impact on air pollution and carbon emissions. Adding to the nightmare, immediately following the bushfires came the global Covid19 pandemic, further delaying the ability to properly heal, especially for small regional towns which survive on the tourist dollar. Mallacoota’s story of revival in many ways is one of the most defining moments of an

PHOTOS THIS PAGE: WILLIAM WATT (CONTOURS AGENCY)

Reopening in May after a major three-year restoration, the new-look Mallacoota Golf and Country Club is enjoying its new lease on life in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/2020

extraordinary period in Australian history. It’s rescue, a collective effort from locals as well as international and domestic emergency services and the long and arduous recovery, typifies everything that makes the Australian spirit so unbreakable. From the moment the fire reached the edge of the township on 31 December 2019 after starting from a lightning strike nearly 40km away in the Wingan River region on 28 December, the town was essentially cut off from the rest of the world during peak holiday season where campers and beachgoers would usually be celebrating the year that was. The town’s isolated nature is to this day one of its many charms, but it did for a short while become its greatest enemy. Without power at the time and with no way of knowing when, or if, they’d be rescued by the time the fire reached the township directly, 4000 people (more than half of those holidaymakers) remained anchored at the foreshore. Boat owners were stranded in their boats on the water and with little food or clean water available it remained a precarious, unpredictable and dangerous situation. Wind changes and weather patterns being generated from the fire itself provided an impossible situation for firefighters to control. The operation became more about saving human lives rather than preventing Mallacoota’s new layout, designed by Michael Henderson (Holes in the Ground), takes more advantage of the land fronting the coastal reserve, creating a minimalist design with small undulating greens, regenerated heathland and no bunkers

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

GOLF COURSES

PHOTOS THIS PAGE: WILLIAM WATT (CONTOURS AGENCY)

The Black Summer bushfires ravaged the coastal Victorian course, destroying most of its dense vegetation and damaging the playing surfaces

the fire from destroying buildings, structures and homes in the town. In many ways it was a minor miracle that no human fatalities were eventually recorded in the aftermath when the fire eventually passed through town. With the road into Mallacoota cut off due to fire damage and fallen trees and debris, on 2 January 2020 the Royal Australian Navy arrived to provide essential medical supplies and fuel before a mass evacuation took place the following day. HMAS Choules ferried 1000 people and pets 20 hours to Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula, with a further 450 evacuated by the Royal Australian Air Force once availability provided a safe air evacuation route. If it wasn’t so real you could mistake it for a Hollywood natural disaster movie. In the weeks, months and even years to come, the devastation was apparent with scorched trees and scattered ashes remaining. Hundreds of homes were lost but thankfully the main street of the town and the majority of buildings and structures were saved. For the Mallacoota Golf and Country Club, however, it was an entirely different story. The volunteer-run club, a prized local commodity, was completely destroyed, burnt beyond recognition. It’s usually vibrant fairways and greens were blackened in an instant and left a reminder of the ordeal facing the

township moving forward. For a town reliant on tourism during the summer months, it was a devastating blow. While recovery and ultimately an ambitious re-imagining of the 18-hole links style course was the long-term plan, in the immediate aftermath the scorched golf course, located right above the jetty, became a vital cog in the community’s recovery, with the Australian Army dropping diesel bags onto the fairways in order to power generators supplying the township.

CRISIS CREATES OPPORTUNITY Mallacoota local and course superintendent Aaron Donovan, who grew up in the town and whose parents operate a local caravan park, watched on helplessly from Hamilton Island in Queensland where he was working at the time as fires ravaged his home town, scarcely able to communicate with friends and family. “It was a bit difficult at the time,” recalls Donovan. “You were basically just hearing what was happening from what was on the news. There wasn’t much communication. My folks were here, same with some friends, and all I wanted to do was come back.” There was, however, a silver lining in the aftermath for the laidback and community driven Donovan. He planned on coming home to Mallacoota after the fires but with

the emergence of Covid-19 he saw the unique opportunity to change career plans and decided to undertake an apprenticeship as a greenkeeper at Curlewis Golf Club. Starting in December 2020 and working under superintendent Rob Bradley, Donovan would spend three years at the Bellarine Peninsula course learning the turf management trade. “I kind of spent six to nine months basically in ‘Coota and in a weird way was kind of enjoying Covid if that makes sense,” says Donovan. “As bad as it was, I could still go to the beach or play golf, and it did send me on the road to being a greenkeeper. “My brother lives in Torquay and in many ways it’s a bit like Mallacoota but a lot busier obviously. I saw the job ad at Curlewis and had always thought about greenkeeping and working outdoors, so applied. They were going through their big rebuild of the clubhouse at the time and putting accommodation on course, so they needed a few more workers. We were doing all the landscaping in and around the usual course work as well. “I actually really loved working there. It was all pretty new to me and although I’m not a great golfer it was good to learn about greenkeeping. The crew were a good bunch of guys and Rob was really great with the art of creating a really good surface.”

EMOTIONAL HOMECOMING In a twist of fate, Donovan would eventually become the first full-time superintendent of Mallacoota in 2024 as the club slowly rose from the ashes, returning home halfway through the club’s extensive rebuild. With the support of local volunteers and club members, Victorian Golf Course Superintendents Association greenkeeper members (for the initial cleanup) and golf course architect Michael Henderson (Holes in the Ground) who designed a new 18-hole layout, Mallacoota’s revival began in earnest. Backed by almost $2 million in post-Black Summer bushfire recovery funding, and coupled with the community’s indomitable spirit, everyone rallied and worked tirelessly to fulfil the club’s new vision. Reconstruction of the course began in 2023, with members playing holes as they were built and repeating them in loops. With increased green fee traffic and clubhouse activity, members ensured the club could stay alive during the long rebuild and proved pivotal in securing enough funds to employ Donovan along with the services of Henderson. “Between the fairways and the trees, the fire went through 100 per cent of the course.” - Aaron Donovan

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An experienced golf course architect based on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Henderson has worked on many highprofile projects including Tara Iti (NZ), The National’s Gunnamatta Course, 7 Mile Beach, Wollongong Golf Club and Flinders Golf Club. Donovan starkly describes the grim situation that faced the golf club: “Between all the fairways and the thick trees, the fire went through 100 per cent of the course,” he explains. “The fire came south through the coast so we were the first real township to cop it. The greens were scorched and our kangaroo numbers were hit hard. Someone managed to put embers out near the clubhouse so we were able to save it, but aside from that we were absolutely cooked. “It (the fire) came in the arvo and the whole town was dark. It was pretty vicious. There’s so much land here (on the golf course), so a lot of the campers were bringing cars and boats out onto the fairway to keep them away from people. It was mental for all involved.” When Donovan joined the project, he was “thrown in the deep end”, an experience he’ll be forever grateful for. Up until his appointment as full-time superintendent, Mallacoota had heavily relied on club member John Bell as a volunteer to maintain the course for more than two decades. But it was not going to be a long-term solution if the club was to be sustainable into the future. “We had our volunteer greenkeeper ‘Belly’, but he’s in his 70s now and been there for over 20 years and it was a big job for him to take on,” says Donovan. “They were originally looking to pay someone with more experience than me because we were growing in and building new greens, but it was hard to get someone willing to move here. I thought it would be a great chance for me to come

With the support of volunteers, club members and expertise from the Victorian and NSW golf industry, everyone rallied to fulfil a new vision for the course

home, but I was thrown straight in which I think in hindsight has helped me now. “With my first grow-in, I had to do seven greens at once, all the sprigging around the greens complexes and some of the tees as well. Seeing how Michael worked and working with him closely was great. My dad was doing the drainage and sprinklers, so it all came together in a funny kind of way. “For someone pretty new to the industry, it was huge for my learning as a greenkeeper. It was difficult sometimes, especially with Michael living down near Flinders (over six hours away), to find the right time to do a lot of greens because of just how wet it was here at times. He would come down for a week or so when time allowed, but it had its challenges.”

A NEW BEGINNING The new Mallacoota course features kikuyu fairways, Pure Distinction bentgrass greens and Santa Ana couchgrass and creeping fescue mix tees. A new hole routing takes

more advantage of the land fronting the coastal reserve, creating a minimalist design with small undulating greens, regenerated heathland and no bunkers. It is a completely new-look compared to the previous course where the coastline was largely hidden by dense and thick bushland. The new layout comprises six unique combinations of holes named after local landmarks. These combinations are called ‘runs’ and have their own individual configuration. Holes 1-11 are called ‘Sand Dune’, named after Tip Beach which apexes above the 9th green. Holes 8-18 are called ‘Little Ram’, inspired by the ‘Rame head’ (pronounced ‘ram’), a small beacon located to the south of the course and visible in the distance from the 9th tee. Holes 1-7 are called ‘Gabo Run’, named after Gabo Island off the coast. ‘The Lions Track’ is made up of holes 12-18 and named after the local Lions club. Holes 15-18 are named ‘Davis Creek Run’ and Holes 8-11 are called ‘Tip Beach Run’ which is the windiest and most difficult section of the new course. Those challenges Donovan speaks of through the build included unpredictable weather patterns, politics and having the right amount of funds to build the new course, justify its vision and ensure environmental stability into the future. “This winter just gone has probably been the first dry one we’ve had since (the fires) and aside from that it’s been just us on the ground and volunteers doing what we need to do and slogging away at it,” says Donovan. “It was a bit frustrating at times for Michael to do what he needed to. It was quite boggy at times and we also had to change sands halfway through the build which wasn’t ideal. It was a certain sand that they couldn’t keep up

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

GOLF COURSES with in terms of demand, so we’ve now got this river sand which has a bit of clay content in it, but we had no alternative. I’ve got 9-10 greens that do have that different sand, so they have a different watering program and are more prone to disease because they hold more water, so that’s been challenging. “We were sprigging the Santa Ana couch everywhere and as we only have water around the greens and tees it was pretty challenging and it became a real patience game. There are bits and pieces that still need growing in, but it’ll come together in time.”

HELPING HANDS Throughout the reconstruction, Mallacoota and Donovan were fortunate to have plenty of expert assistance. Former Royal Melbourne superintendent and now ETP senior turf consultant and Holmesglen TAFE education manager Jim Porter provided his guidance and expertise on the management of the new greens. Similarly, Kate Torgersen from Environmental Golf Solutions, was another key figure in preparing a vegetation plan (read more in the breakout below). Michael Riordan and his hydroseeding team at Turf Renovation Australia provided a

Mallacoota born and bred, Aaron Donovan returned home during the early stages of reconstruction to become the club’s first full-time superintendent

calming influence for Donovan during the early stages of growing the greens he seeded and still provides advice today, while NSWGCSA committee member and Pambula Merimbula Golf Club superintendent Pat Wilson provided much-needed consultancy when Donovan needed it most and still stays in touch. Club president Max Donovan, a local plumber and Aaron’s father, was a shining light, providing much-needed leadership and stability, dealing with the politics behind the

scenes and on the ground during the rebuild. Alongside secretary Gregory Hopkins, a selfemployed builder, and the core group leading the charge were in safe hands. The new course officially fully re-opened in May this year, nearly seven years after the fires, with Max Donovan and Gippsland Federal Member Darren Chester opening the site with more than 100 in attendance. Seventy-six players teed up after travelling from across Victoria and southern New South Wales. Chester, the current Deputy Leader of the National Party of Australia who hails from Sale, three hours from Mallacoota, was critical in securing the unprecedented funding and had the honour of hitting the first tee shot. Donovan said it was remarkable to see the links-style course from where it was in its darkest early days to its thriving nature today. “With the couple of guys on the main committee who were there from the beginning, it was great to see the re-opening,” says Donovan. “On the day we had the whole course full of golfers playing the new layout. It was a massive relief for the committee because there was originally a bit of pushback because we were cleaning a lot of the tea tree,” he says.

RECOVERING MALLACOOTA’S DISTINCTIVE HEATHLAND LANDSCAPE

hen I first visited the Mallacoota Golf & Country Club following the Black Summer bushfires, the scale of the damage was confronting. Large areas of vegetation had been burnt, mature trees had been lost and the club was beginning the enormous task of rebuilding its golf course. However, the fires also created an opportunity to reconsider how the course’s out-of-play areas could be managed and how Mallacoota’s distinctive clay heathland vegetation could become a stronger part of its character. Environmental Golf Solutions was engaged to assess the vegetation across the site and provide recommendations to guide its recovery. Rather than immediately replanting everything, the focus was on understanding what was already there, where natural regeneration was occurring and where management could support that recovery. Reducing mowing and unnecessary disturbance in selected out-of-play areas allowed indigenous vegetation to return and helped rebuild habitat following the fires. Importantly, the approach was never about simply “letting areas go”. It was about deciding where natural vegetation made sense from both an environmental and golf perspective. Areas still needed to complement play, maintain appropriate sightlines and contribute positively to the character and presentation of the course.

The Mallacoota project has provided an opportunity to involve the local community and build a greater understanding of natural regeneration

The aim was not to recreate every part of the course exactly as it had been before the fires. It was to help the recovering landscape complement the new course design by Michael Henderson and reinforce what makes Mallacoota distinctive. The project also provided an opportunity to involve the community and build a greater understanding of natural regeneration. Walking the course with club representatives, volunteers and members of the community helped build a shared understanding of

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

what was returning and why patience was sometimes more valuable than immediate planting. Their local knowledge and ongoing involvement have been critical, particularly for a club relying heavily on the contribution of its volunteers. Now, with superintendent Aaron Donovan leading the course team, that work continues to evolve. The return of heathland species and indigenous groundcovers is helping rebuild habitat while giving the course a stronger sense of place. My role has continued through consultation and guidance as the club balances vegetation recovery with the practical demands of establishing and maintaining the rebuilt course. For Mallacoota, the recovering vegetation is becoming part of the story of the course and its recovery from those devastating fires. It provides habitat, strengthens the local character of the site and demonstrates the important role golf courses can play in supporting biodiversity and landscape recovery following major disturbance. It is also a good reminder for other clubs that environmental improvement does not always need to start with a large budget or a major revegetation project. Start by looking at the areas you already have, particularly those that contribute little to play. Sometimes changing how those areas are managed can be the first and most effective step. – Kate Torgersen

The new Mallacoota course features kikuyu fairways, Pure Distinction bentgrass greens and Santa Ana couchgrass and creeping fescue mix tees – and lots of kangaroos

PHOTO: WILLIAM WATT (CONTOURS AGENCY)

“This whole area basically had no life to it, but once it all came together it was a pretty good feeling just knowing we’ve done something right. It’s taken a lot of stress, a lot of time and a lot of patience. There is a whole bunch of people who have spent almost all of their spare time out here to get this project done and it’s really satisfying to see the end result given their effort.”

GOLF A WAY OF LIFE Donovan says the unique nature of Mallacoota geographically – it is the last official township in Victoria’s east before entering New South Wales – make functional entities like the golf club an essential part of local life. “We’ve always had the thought here in Mallacoota that the golf club is a community asset,” states Donovan. “We don’t have a lot of team sport here – most have to travel to Eden (86km away) or Orbost (150km) for footy – so we’re one of the only places, aside from the soccer club, where we can play sport at home. “There’s also only three bars in town, so it’s pretty important to us that we keep

people coming through the door because while the golf is great it’s more of an asset for Mallacoota as a town.” Today, Mallacoota Golf and Country Club is thriving. The hundreds of kangaroos which are so distinctively local to the environment have returned to the fairways and golfers from all corners of Australia, as well as members, are embracing the striking minimalist nature of the new heathland style course which overlooks the coastline.

While mindful there will still be ups and downs along the way, Donovan is continuing to fulfil the vision set out years ago as the golf club enjoys a second lease at life. He is looking forward to seeing the course continue to mature and golfers taking advantage of the new-look course and its stunning surrounds. The club holds weekly Saturday and Wednesday comps, and features a bar and bistro with views of the course. Visit www. mallacootagolf.com.au for more information.

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31/8/2026 10:38 am SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 29

TEST CRICKET

Great Barrier belief... Mackay passes its

ultimate Test

Mackay’s Great Barrier Reef Arena etched its name in international cricket history in August when the picturesque sporting complex became the 12th Test match venue in Australia and 127th overall. ATM reporter Nick Creely caught up with head curator Peter Kazakoff in the week leading into the historic occasion.

hen Peter Kazakoff made the bold move away from The Gabba in 2021 to take on the head grounds manager position at Harrup Park in Mackay, roughly 1000 kilometres north of Brisbane, little did he know he would play such a significant role in the sporting landscape on a global scale just five years into his tenure. In fact, when Kazakoff arrived at Harrup Park, Mackay’s premier sporting complex featuring the now world-class Great Barrier Reef Arena (formerly known as Ray Mitchell Oval), it was very much a facility with tremendous potential but scope to become something even greater. Since its opening in 1948 – owned and developed by the Mackay Cricket Association since the early 1940s – Great Barrier Reef Arena has always been part of the fabric of

Mackay’s thriving sporting community as both a cricket and Australian rules football ground filled with charm and history amongst a stunning coastal setting. Ironically, before being developed into a proper sporting ground and now international cricket venue, the site was originally a cow paddock owned by local farmers. It’s first foray into the international spotlight as a venue came in 1968 when the touring West Indians played a Queensland Country XI in a two-day tour game. Rohan Kanhai, a champion Guyanese batsman who played 79 Test matches, made a rapid double-century, while the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers, who passed away in July this year, was West Indian captain. It wasn’t until the 1992 Cricket World Cup that the ground first hosted a men’s One-Day International between India and Sri Lanka, with a monster crowd hoping to catch a glimpse

Mackay’s iconic boutique cricket ground – Great Barrier Reef Arena – became Australia’s 12th Test venue when it hosted the second of the two-match Australia v Bangladesh series in August

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of a young Sachin Tendulkar, Indian legend Kapil Dev and the great Sri Lankan Aravinda de Silva. However, just two balls into the game torrential rain hit and the game had to be abandoned, despite the best efforts of the grounds staff to dry the ground out. Despite a sprinkling of Queensland List A one-day matches, Sheffield Shield, WBBL and, for a brief period, AFLW matches featuring the Gold Coast Suns in the period since, Great Barrier Reef Arena had largely been starved of opportunity, needing the infrastructure to justify major national and international events. On 22 August this year, however, the North Queensland regional city became famous for more than just being known as ‘The Sugar Capital of Australia’. It’s iconic boutique cricket ground joined 11 other venues across the country to host men’s Test cricket when the touring Bangladesh team took on Australia in the second match of a two-Test series.

REDEVELOPMENT BOOSTS STADIUM CREDENTIALS That extensive redevelopment Kazakoff speaks of has been one of the major catalysts for Great Barrier Reef Arena’s rapid rise to the Test cricket stage. The first of an expansive two-stage redevelopment was completed in 2023, improving the facilities and boosting capacity to 10,000 for sports and 20,000 for concerts. Costing $25 million, Stage 1 works included a new 2000-seat grandstand, media and broadcast facilities for AFL and cricket, new world-class facilities for players and officials and upgraded corporate and events facilities. Stage 2 will form part of the planning for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and thanks to a $23.5m investment from the Queensland Government will see enhanced infrastructure to boost capacity even further into the future. In total, the $47m multi-sport and community precinct expansion will see four indoor high-ball courts for sports including netball, basketball, volleyball and badminton, along with indoor cricket nets and AFL training facilities. It will also include all-abilities and Paralympic training facilities, a gym, dormitory accommodation, community sports meeting rooms and administration space for cricket, AFL and other sporting organisations.

LEGENDARY MENTORS FORM PHILOSOPHY The other catalyst is Kazakoff himself and how his dedication to improving the standards of the pitches both in the middle and the practice wickets, as well as the outfield, have placed Mackay in the conversation as one of regional Australia’s best sporting facilities. He is both

meticulous and passionate about his craft – two undeniably important traits in any sports turf manager. But he is also an avid learner, always seeking to improve his skills and knowledge even further. The laidback Queenslander spent nearly 20 years plying his trade at the iconic Brisbane-based Gabba under legendary curator Kevin Mitchell Junior and current head groundsman Dave Sandurski. His methods, approach and attitude towards preparing wickets have been shaped and moulded by the duo. Mitchell Jnr, in particular, who retired after the Ashes series in 2017 after nearly 30 years as head curator at The Gabba, was instrumental in Kazakoff’s journey. “I’ve been on the phone a lot since moving up here, discussing tactics and plans with Kevin Jnr and Dave as well. They’re both so experienced at making Test wickets and have given me a lot of support to help me get to where I am today,” Kazakoff says. “I’d be a fool not to get their advice and reach out to them and get their tick of approval. But the biggest thing they’ve taught me is to always go with your instincts. Only I know what’s going on on the ground, so you’ve got to back yourself in.” He adds that Australian curators are among the best in the world, but importantly supportive of each other despite every corner of the country providing its slice of uniqueness, whether it be weather patterns, different soils, clays or irrigation issues. “We’re a supportive, tight-knit group,” says Kazakoff. “We catch up at least once a year at the Cricket Australia Curators Conference and when a match is on everyone’s always sending good luck messages.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

PHOTO: ALBERT PEREZ – CRICKET AUSTRALIA/GETTY IMAGES

Kazakoff also etched his name into history in his own right, becoming one of only a select few curators tasked with the most critical job of all – preparing the all-important strip of turf and lush outfield for the rigours of an international cricket Test match. If you told him he’d be preparing a Test wicket when he first laid eyes on Great Barrier Reef Arena five years earlier, he would have thought you’d be joking. Hosting Test match cricket, particularly in a country as cricket mad as Australia, is a prestigious honour and one not lost on the unflappable Kazakoff. “It’s been amazing watching this whole venue come to life and achieve what it has in the last five years,” reflects Kazakoff while overlooking the sun-soaked ground just four days out from the historic match. “We’ve gone from a country cricket ground to a Test venue. If you told me that five years ago when I moved here I would have thought you were crazy! “It has been a great journey for all of us here at Mackay, starting off as a WBBL venue, rolling into international women’s cricket, then Shield, OneDay Cup, A Series and the ODIs last year; it’s just evolved so much. The Test is now obviously the biggest event in the venue’s history. “I think being one of a few venues in the country to hold a Test match is a pretty special thing. Being a regional city too, it’s quite iconic for us. There has been a lot of redevelopment here and in the last five years we’ve been building up to this. To have the ODIs here last year, we didn’t think it could be better, but the Test match is the ultimate for us.”

TEST CRICKET Great Barrier Reef Arena assistant grounds manager Mitchell Stansborough sets the bails as the rest of crew put the finishing touches to the pitch and outfield ahead of the opening session of the Mackay Test

that side, but the guys down south, with their much different climate compared to here, have tweaked them and perfected them to a tee. “There’s always going to be issues and there’s going to be noise when it comes to drop-ins, but we’re extremely lucky in Australia to have world-class curators. They make it work. I’ve gathered a pretty good understanding of how my wickets play and react and with more international games on them we’re confident we can handle it.”

PITCH PERFECT DESPITE RAPID TEST “We’ve got great clays in Australia and not all the wickets are the same. They’re all different and as curators we know our venue’s characteristics and the great thing is we can bring the best out of those wickets. Having that difference is a real blessing.”

PRIOR LEARNINGS SHAPE PITCH CURATION Kazakoff says the Mackay surface holds many similarities to the famous Gabba wickets, renowned for pace and bounce early before slowly evening out for batters and then turning late in games. It’s not a coincidence, it all comes down to method. “It’s the same soil as the Gabba, so the clay content is the same and the characteristics are similar,” says Kazakoff. “I can model the pitch in a way on the Gabba, so it makes my job a little easier in a sense.

“Essentially we’re trying to achieve good bounce and pace in the wicket. It’s generally a good batting wicket here in Mackay and then you hope for a bit of deterioration, similar to the Gabba. That’s the benchmark.” Much like the Gabba, Great Barrier Reef Arena bucks the trend against most international venues in the country, featuring a traditional wicket table in the centre of the ground featuring five Legend couchgrass pitches rather than drop-in blocks. Originally there were three pitches in the wicket table and two were later added, but this was before Kazakoff had arrived in Mackay. The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Bellerive Oval in Hobart have still got in-situ wicket blocks. “Drop-ins are completely different and need to be managed differently,” states Kazakoff. “I haven’t had a lot of experience with drop-in wickets so I can’t really comment on

Proof that the Mackay pitch was ideal to host a Test match came last year when the venue successfully hosted two men’s ODI matches between Australia and South Africa – 33 years after that first washout. With a healthy sprinkling of runs and wickets in both games, it was in many ways the certainty Cricket Australia needed. It also provided Kazakoff and his crew of six with valuable learnings to take not only into the Test match but projecting forward into the future. “It was a different format obviously, but having an international ODI at our venue gave us peace of mind that we knew we could achieve optimum results in terms of our fertiliser programs and irrigation,” he explains. “We knew that the wicket could perform at the highest level. The ODIs were a really good trial run as a team, but Test matches are a completely different beast, it’s the ultimate.” While the Test match in Mackay only lasted two days in the end, with Australia thrashing

Since arriving at Great Barrier Reef Arena in 2021, Kazakoff (pictured right) has helped to put Mackay in the conversation as one of regional Australia’s best sporting facilities

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

Bangladesh by an innings and 51 runs, it had little to do with the pitch itself which was meticulously prepared, rather the quality of fast bowling on display from both teams. Thirty wickets were collected for 369 runs as legendary left-armer Mitch Starc caused carnage, clearly enjoying the best of the bowling conditions on the opening day to set the game up for an early finish. Starc snared 6-12 in the first-innings and 4-39 in the second dig to set the win up and claim player of the match honours. Ideally, the game would have gone longer to showcase the huge effort that Kazakoff and his crew put in to producing the Test wicket, but cricket, much like the art of curating itself, is a sport of extreme variables. Despite that, the ICC still rated the Mackay pitch ‘Very Good’ (its highest possible rating), drawing similarities to the Optus Stadium surface in the 2025/26 Ashes which also produced a two-day Test. It also rated the pitch at Darwin’s TIO Stadium, which hosted the first Test of the series where Bangladesh scored an historic nine-wicket win, ‘Very Good’, further highlighting the excellent work of the venues’ curating teams.

CAREFUL, LOGISTICAL PROCESS Planning for the Mackay Test began almost immediately for Kazakoff and his team after Cricket Australia made the announcement on 25 February that the coastal city had outbid the likes of Cairns and Townsville for the match. “The first thing I looked at was the scheduling,” explains Kazakoff. “Our last game of the season was in April for the National Indigenous Cricket Championships (NICC) and then you sort of run through your head what your renovation program is going to be and how long you need to recover.

Finished in 2023, Great Barrier Reef Arena completed the first of a two-stage redevelopment to improve its facilities and boost capacity in order for it to host major international sporting events and concerts

“We were lucky to have around 12 weeks from the renovation period. That’s really important because the weather starts to get cooler here, so you’ve got probably a twoto-three week block post-renovation to boost the grass again while it’s warm before it gets cooler and the growth starts to slow down. “If you can get a good start postrenovation and start nursing it, that’s the key. In the colder months we used growth blankets, sticking to a plan with the height of cut and thatch levels because you don’t want it to be too thatchy. You just want a nice even coverage to get you through those colder months.” Selecting the wicket that would suit the expected conditions was another part of a lengthy logistical process.

“From an operational point-of-view, somewhere in the centre of the ground is ideal, and out of the five the three in the middle are usually my ‘go to’ wickets,” he says. “Following our renovation in April we had great results in terms of recovery and the wicket table had a full coverage of grass, so we were confident with using the centre wicket.” Kazakoff and his crew started preparing the Test wicket a day-and-a-half earlier than scheduled due to unpredictable weather, a common issue in that part of the country. Mackay did experience some rain in the days leading into the match, something he had prepared for accordingly. “It’s a bit like baking a cake,” continues Kazakoff. “There’s a recipe, but there’s no doubt that it can be a fine line at times. Half

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

TEST CRICKET Preparing Great Barrer Reef Arena for the Test was a proud moment for the crew. From left are Rick Stansborough, head grounds manager Peter Kazakoff, Bryce Campbell, Marmin Barba, assistant grounds manager Mitchell Stansborough and Michael Richmond

EXCITING FUTURE

was just about slowly bringing the height of cut down during the week. “We gradually took it down a millimetre at a time. It started out at 6mm, we sealed it and then took it down to 5mm and then to 4mm. Four is what probably suits this pitch just fine.” Perhaps the only silver-lining to the Test match ending three days earlier than expected was it gave Kazakoff and his team more time to quickly transform the ground back into footy mode. With the match wrapping up on 23 August, it gave the crew nearly a fortnight before hosting the AFL Mackay grand finals on Saturday 5 September. After a couple of days rest, the crew had the goal posts back up and focused on irrigating the wicket block to stimulate recovery and grass coverage. “The biggest issue is obviously the wicket table and getting more growth in to make it safer for AFL,” says Kazakoff. “Not being a drop-in, the centre bounce is the biggest issue, but we had plans in place.”

PHOTO: ALBERT PEREZ – CRICKET AUSTRALIA/GETTY IMAGES

the battle is the weather up here. You might get some rain leading in, or you might not, but the good thing is I’m in control. I can put the moisture back in, but I can’t take it out. “Moisture content in the wicket is the biggest factor. It’s got to be able to last five days. The perfect recipe is to have something in it for the bowlers early in the match before flattening out. Then you want the spinners to come into it late.” The real nitty gritty of dialling in the surface came six days before the first ball was sent down. With the assistance of Queensland Cricket, Cricket Australia and the crew, it was all about careful management, meticulous rolling regimes and balancing the moisture levels while also slowly filing down the grass to keep the pitch compact. “You’re looking at three long months of working towards the match,” states Kazakoff. “We just made sure we had a good base to it, the moisture content stayed level and then it

As part of the Stage 2 works to further boost Great Barrier Reef Arena to be equipped to host major international tournament events, the venue is in the box seat to be a part of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games as a potential cricket venue. Cricket is set to make a return to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and it is expected that the sport will also be included in 2032. The Gabba, which will be demolished after the Olympics to make way for the soon-to-beconstructed Brisbane Stadium, as well as the likes of Cairns and Townsville, are other venues also in consideration to host tournament matches. Australia and New Zealand is also hosting the 2028 T20 World Cup from 21 October – 19 November, with a potential warmup match or pool game a consideration for the city in the shorter term. Kazakoff says while further international men’s and women’s matches were of high priority for his team in the future, these global sporting events were beneficial for the city, it’s economy and boosting sport in the region. “That’s the big picture,” says Kazakoff. “If we can host Olympic cricket here that would be a massive milestone. We just need to keep setting the bar higher and higher for ourselves and hopefully tick the boxes along the way. “There’s also the 2028 T20 World Cup too, so hopefully we can get some warm-up or pool games as well. We’d love some involvement. The next five years looks really exciting and hopefully we can play a part in it.”

With the projected $47million Stage 2 of the facility’s redevelopment, Great Barrier Reef Arena could potentially play a significant role in the hosting of the 2032 Olympics

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

TRIBUTE

WORDS AND PHOTO: BRETT ROBINSON

Euan Laird, pictured in 2016, was the AGCSA’s inaugural chief executive and responsible for developing many of the association’s key member services, such as ATM and AGCSATech. Laird passed away in late September after a 14-year battle with Multiple System Atrophy

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

Vale Euan Laird (1966-2026) AGCSA CEO 1992-2002 Appointed as the AGCSA’s inaugural chief executive at just 26, Euan Laird spent a decade turning a young association into one of the turf industry’s leading professional bodies. His vision saw the establishment of a wide array of initiatives that transformed the industry, helping to shape a profession and raise the profile of its

members. Following his passing in late September, ATM pays tribute to a true pioneer.

hen Euan Laird was appointed the Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association’s (AGCSA) first full-time executive officer in November 1992, the fledgling organisation had virtually no infrastructure, limited funds and a heap of work to do. What it did have, however, was potential, a group of committed industry people and a 26-year-old with enthusiasm, plenty of ideas and the determination to make things happen. During a decade in office, Laird would help transform the AGCSA into one of the turf industry’s leading professional entities. His achievements were many, including the establishment of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal (ATM) and AGCSATech, developing professional accreditation initiatives, expanding education and conferences, strengthening industry relationships and raising the profile of course superintendents. More than a quarter of a century after some of those initiatives began, their influence still remains. Sadly, following a 14-year battle with Multiple System Atrophy, a rare neurological condition, Laird passed away on 23 September 2026 surrounded by his loved ones. He was just 60. For those who knew him professionally, the news marked the loss of a person whose influence extended well beyond the position he held. It also provided an opportunity to reflect upon a substantial professional legacy, one to which the Australian sports turf industry will forever be indebted.

GREEN THUMB TO GREEN CEO Laird’s path to becoming AGCSA CEO began with an intense interest in plants and the outdoors that had developed during his childhood. The youngest of seven children, from the age of 12 he was responsible for preparing the backyard cricket pitch at the annual Laird family Christmas gathering. Each

Laird outside the Australian Golf Union offices early in his tenure as AGCSA executive officer

year he tried to improve it, even introducing couchgrass to create a playing surface that, in his words, became “pretty close to the MCG”. After studying agricultural science at the University of Melbourne, Laird joined the Victorian Department of Agriculture’s Turf Research and Advisory Institute in Frankston. There he worked with influential figures including Terry Woodcock and Ron McCartney, who helped establish his career, and met John Neylan, David McGeary and Michael Robinson, colleagues with whom he would later work with at Turfgrass Technology. By 1992, the newly incorporated AGCSA was looking for someone to take responsibility of its growing operations. Hearing they needed a full-time executive officer, Laird called then AGCSA Board member Wayne Dale to express his interest. He was up against candidates with far greater experience in club and association management, but what he lacked in formal experience he made up for in enthusiasm and a willingness to embrace the challenge. Inaugural association president Doug Robinson, along with fellow board members Dale, Jeff Lane and Peter Sawyer, were

impressed by Laird’s progressive attitude and duly took a chance on the young horticulturist. It proved to be a decision that would define the association’s future, although Robinson admitted the task confronting Laird was enormous. There was no office, no equipment, no management systems and little money. But as the board were to find, Laird embraced every challenge presented to him. “I think everyone at that time could see the potential the AGCSA had; it just needed someone to help it along a little,” Laird recalled in a 2016 article in Australian Turfgrass Management Journal following his AGCSA Distinguished Service Award that year. “I had seen what the international superintendent associations were doing and what they had achieved and thought there was no reason why we couldn’t do it as well. “I knew I was jumping into the fire. I went to the 1990 national conference in Sydney with Turfgrass Technology and I remember thinking how big it was and what it must be like to organise it. Two years later, I was! I can’t thank enough that initial board I worked for; they had the boldness to give a 26-year-old kid, as green as they come with unparalleled naivety to boot, the opportunity of a lifetime to assist them in carving out a future for the AGCSA.”

FROM OFFICE CUPBOARD TO INDUSTRY CORNERSTONE The AGCSA’s initial headquarters amounted to nothing more than a tiny room at the Australian Golf Union’s Golf House in South Melbourne. Laird remembered his desk occupying one end of what was effectively a cupboard, with clothes hanging at the other! From that modest base, Laird oversaw all aspects of the association’s operations. “I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with the AGCSA organically on the cusp of a growth phase, so it was an exciting time,” Laird recalled in the 2016 article. “The diversity and sheer volume SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

TRIBUTE

During Laird’s tenure he improved member services and introduced initiatives to recognise professional competence. He also established the Course Quality Officials program (above) at Australian Open tournaments

of work was the most challenging aspect. You were doing everything from processing memberships, running conferences and seminars, public speaking and advocacy, through to writing articles and taking photos.” It was an extraordinary workload, but Laird thrived on the opportunity to build something. He described the experience as “like giving birth to something”, with each conference, seminar, publication or new initiative representing another project brought to life. Laird’s ambition was never just to keep the association’s administrative functions running. He recognised early on that the AGCSA could play a much greater role in developing its members, supporting their professional standing and demonstrating the value of their work to the wider golf industry. During his tenure, the association expanded its conferences and seminars, improved member services, strengthened sponsorship relationships, developed employment guides and introduced initiatives designed to recognise professional

competence. He helped establish the Course Quality Officials program at Australian Open tournaments as well as a number of the association’s key awards, among them the Distinguished Service Award in 1997. Education, however, was Laird’s priority. Golf course management was becoming increasingly scientific and technically demanding, while the superintendent’s role was evolving beyond hands-on greenkeeping towards greater responsibility for planning, budgeting, staff leadership and environmental management. Laird believed the industry needed to reflect that evolution through more structured professional development and stronger recognition of qualifications. “Improving the professionalism and value of the conference and recognising the importance of ongoing education was a big thing,” Laird said. “As skilled as our guys were, they needed the credentials after their name to show their competence, so it was important that the conferences and seminars gave recognition of that.”

The 1993 national seminar in Canberra and Adelaide conference in 1994 were among Laird’s early major events. The Adelaide conference brought together a strong program of international speakers and, for the first time, an indoor trade exhibition, while giving Laird the opportunity to meet many superintendents he had previously known only through telephone conversations. As his experience grew, so too did his appreciation of the annual conference’s broader importance. “It wasn’t until later in my time with the AGCSA that I came to appreciate the noneducational value of the conference – the camaraderie, the mateship, the sharing of stories and issues as a group. It’s true that a lot of the stuff you learn at these sorts of events doesn’t come in the actual education sessions, but from networking with colleagues. So while I was hell bent on getting recognition for the sessions, I did come to fully appreciate the importance of getting together as a group.” Laird said he was fortunate to work with boards that encouraged innovation while applying appropriate scrutiny to new proposals. He consistently credited their support, particularly that of Robinson. “Without fault, every board I worked with at the AGCSA was progressive,” Laird said. “They always gave me the opportunity to put ideas to them and were prepared to give something new a go if it had merit. I’ve worked for many boards in my 24 years in horticulture and the AGCSA were among the best. Sure, they knew how to party, but when it came down to serious decision making they were without fault in their due diligence and concern for the betterment of the association and its members. Above all, they were just good people. “In Doug Robinson, I found a mentor the calibre of which I never experienced again. Everything you hear about Doug is true – he is just an amazing individual and he provided me with great guidance in those early days.”

LASTING LEGACIES That combination of board support, industry commitment and Laird’s appetite for pushing the envelope brought about two of his most enduring and proudest achievements – Australian Turfgrass Management magazine (ATM) and AGCSATech. Launched in 1999 and 2000 respectively, both were defining moments in the association’s history and continue to be mainstays of the industry today. Before ATM, the AGCSA had had arrangements with both TurfCraft International and Golf & Sports Turf, but Laird steadfastly believed the association needed its own publication if it was to communicate directly Laird (left) with AGCSA Board members (from left) Mark Couchman, Peter Schumacher, Peter Frewin and Craig New and AGCSA administration manager Virginia Thompson in 1998

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

with members and establish a distinctive professional identity. Looking at the likes of the GCSAA’s GCM publication, Laird saw the value of an association-controlled magazine in communicating technical knowledge, profiling members and their work and promoting the profession. At the time, superintendents were increasingly qualified and their responsibilities were becoming more complex, yet much of their work remained poorly understood outside the profession. “If we wanted to raise the professionalism of our industry and its members, we had to have a professional publication of our own,” Laird reflected in 2016. “We also wanted a magazine to focus on the human side of the industry by profiling superintendents and presenting case studies to showcase the important work they were doing. They were doing an enormous job with very limited resources and we saw the magazine as being critical to help tell those stories.” The decision to establish an independent publication wasn’t without risk. The separation from Glenvale Publications, publisher of Golf and Sports Turf, wasn’t without acrimony and there was no guarantee that advertisers or the wider industry would support the new venture. Laird nevertheless believed the AGCSA had a compelling proposition – direct access to a professional readership that mattered to suppliers, manufacturers and service providers. The first edition of ATM (Volume 1.1, February-March 1999) weighed in at 64 pages and featured the now-famous ‘frog on a ball’ cover. Inaugural editor Phil George worked alongside Laird to bring the magazine together, with support from the board, an industry editorial committee, advertisers and production partner Publicity Press. Neither Laird nor George had any publishing experience, but

Laird’s incredible body of work was recognised in 2016 when he received the AGCSA Distinguished Service Award. He is pictured with inaugural AGCSA president Doug Robinson (left) and then AGCSA president Peter Lonergan

they had a clear idea of what they wanted the publication to achieve, an understanding of the turf industry and a willingness to work extraordinary hours to get it into print. The early editions were produced amid a massive workload. While there were numerous contributors, Laird also wrote articles himself, including the very first feature which reviewed the 1998 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne. There were late nights, last-minute deadlines and the constant challenge of securing content, but ultimately the gamble paid off. “Every time the magazine hits my desk, I feel very proud and chuffed that it has stood the test of time and that it is still a quality publication respected by the industry,” Laird said. “It achieved, and far exceeded, where many of us thought it would end up.”

If ATM provided the association with its own voice, AGCSATech was conceived to provide it with a stronger technical resource for members. Coming from a turf research and advisory background, Laird recognised a gap in the market for an independent advisory service that could support superintendents with technical knowledge and practical advice. The idea remained in his mind for several years before he presented a business case to the AGCSA Board. It was an ambitious proposal, particularly given the demands already placed on a small organisation, but the board ultimately agreed to proceed. Central to the plan was acquiring the services of Turfgrass Technology director John Neylan to lead the new division and once that was achieved Laird knew it would “be a success”.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

TRIBUTE The official launch of AGCSATech at the Millenium Turfgrass Conference in Melbourne marked an important expansion of the association’s role, demonstrating that it could deliver more than just membership services and professional development. It was developed at a time when turf management was becoming more technically sophisticated and Laird could see that the industry needed reliable, independent advice. “There was a lot of consternation from the trade,” Laird recalled when AGCSATech was announced. “The key was AGCSATech being independent, which was the same reason why we launched ATM. That was our difference. Looking back, I am very proud that we had the capability to pull it off. It was very rewarding

to see it come to fruition and once we started getting some big contracts and clients I knew we had done the right thing.”

MAKING A CONTRIBUTION Laird departed the AGCSA in 2002, with the skills and experience gained during that decade shaping the remainder of his career. He became CEO of AusVeg – the peak body representing Australian vegetable growers – before serving as Director of Horticulture Services at the Victorian Department of Primary Industries. In 2012, he was appointed chief executive of Nursery & Garden Industry Victoria, where his responsibilities included oversight of the famous Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

It was shortly after his appointment there when Laird, aged just 46, was diagnosed with what was then early onset Parkinson’s disease. In later years, that diagnosis was changed to Multiple System Atrophy which he battled stoically to the end with the unstinting support of wife Jacqui, sons Sinclair and Rupert and an army of family and friends. In 2016, 14 years after he had departed the association, the AGCSA made the unique decision to award Laird the association’s highest accolade – the Distinguished Service Award – at the 23rd Australian Turfgrass Conference in Melbourne. Although not normally awarded to staff, Laird’s contribution to the association’s progression demanded such recognition.

AN INDUSTRY DYNAMO WHO ENGENDERED A SENSE OF CONFIDENCE

t is with considerable sadness that I am reflecting for a second time in less than a year on the passing of one of the key people in my career as a turfgrass agronomist. It was with great sadness to hear of Euan Laird’s passing at a relatively young age – just 60 – in September. Along with Peter McMaugh AM, Euan provided me with a great opportunity to advance my career in the turf industry and, more particularly, to be more involved with golf courses and course superintendents. I first met Euan when he joined the Turf Research and Advisory Institute (Department of Agriculture, Victoria) in the mid-1980s as a Turf Advisory Officer. Recently graduated from the University of Melbourne in Agricultural Science, Euan had a passion for horticulture. This love of plants was demonstrated in his thesis where he surveyed the regrowth in the forests that were devastated in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires near his home at Harkaway, in Melbourne’s outer southeast. At the Institute, Euan made an immediate impact with his enthusiasm, willingness to learn and ambition. He was a young man that wanted to make an impact and was occasionally a little impetuous in his endeavours. Euan was definitely the leader of the young cohort of scientists and lab techs at the Department of Agriculture facility shared with the Vegetable Research Station, where he was a prime mover for the Friday afternoon get-togethers (oldies weren’t allowed). On reflection, Euan was a born leader! In his role as a Turf Advisory Officer, he could relate to anyone, whether they were a volunteer bowling greenkeeper, golf course superintendent or a sportsfield curator. He serviced golf and bowling clubs in the Mildura region as well as east Gippsland, including the single green at the Swifts Creek Bowling Club. On one memorable trip to Swifts Creek, 40

Euan with wife Jacqui in 2016 when he was bestowed the AGCSA Distinguished Service Award

he rescued an injured wombat and went in search of care for the injured creature. He definitely had a love of nature. When Euan resigned from what had then become Turfgrass Technology to become the first executive officer of the AGCSA, we were sorry to see him leave. When he told me he was leaving, my first words are unprintable because I valued him so much as a turfgrass agronomist. However, it was acknowledged by all that he would be well suited to help the development of the fledgling association. Fast forward a few years and in 2000 Euan approached me to join the AGCSA and, in particular, to set up AGCSATech, the turf research and consulting arm of the association. In his pitch to me, Euan had recognised that the turf industry was doing little or no research and he saw this as an opportunity to be leaders. He and the board wanted to provide AGCSA members with technical services, advice and the findings of local research applicable to golf course management. It was his explanation of that vision, as well as his enthusiasm and support, that persuaded me to make the move. Going to the AGCSA was a challenge initially as the trade were up in arms about what the association was up to and the

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

‘prospect’ that it would become a buyer’s group. It is interesting to reflect 26 years later that the trade has turned this proposition around and is now competing strongly in the same consultancy space as AGCSATech! At the 2000 AGM there was much discussion about what the formation of AGCSATech might mean, however, the strong position taken by Euan, the board and Doug Robinson calmed the malefactors. I am forever grateful for their encouragement and support. Euan was a dynamo in securing industry funding and getting it matched with funds from Horticulture Australia (now Hort Innovation) to establish not only research trials but support for the conferences and Australian Turfgrass Management magazine. Over several years the trials provided great content for the conference and the magazine and enhanced the reputation of the AGCSA for being leaders and making a difference. Euan was confident, not afraid to get his hands dirty, was prepared to upset tradition and had the ability to develop a team environment. Whether it was helping to set up turf trials, dealing with the trade, organising conferences and trade shows or providing input into the magazine, he always engendered a sense of confidence. When Euan announced he was leaving the AGCSA in 2002 I was shattered because I realised how much I relied on Euan’s drive and confidence. It wasn’t until sometime later that I realised that the 10-year commitment that he had made to the AGCSA would have been incredibly draining and a fresh start was well deserved, especially also as he and wife Jacqui were about to start a family. Thanks Euan for all of your contributions in establishing a strong and meaningful association and the extended opportunities you provided for myself. – John Neylan (former AGCSATech manager and AGCSA general manager, DSA recipient 2014)

Despite uncertainty over whether he would be able to accept the award in person due to his health, he did so and received a standing ovation at the end of an emotional acceptance speech. The laughs he elicited in telling some of the stories of the early days of the AGCSA, along with his ability to make light of his health battles, made for a truly memorable night. Ever humble and not wanting to cast the spotlight on himself, when accepting the award Laird commented: “I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the award. When we first conjured up the idea of the Distinguished Service Award it was never meant to be for staff but to recognise those in the industry. Looking at some of the past winners I feel like a bit of a phoney, so to be ranked alongside them I feel very grateful and thankful for. “I accept this award on behalf of all those superintendents out there who turn up to work each day, give it their best and never receive the accolades or due recognition they deserve. From the small country golf course superintendent to those in charge of the major championship courses, their dedication and passion is without doubt impressive. “The most you can ask for in life is to make a contribution and I was given that opportunity by the AGCSA Board of the time and to have that recognised is amazing in itself.”

“The most you can ask for in life is to make a contribution and I was given that opportunity by the AGCSA Board of the time.” – Euan Laird

Speaking on what he valued most about his time with the AGCSA, Laird’s answer was unequivocal – the people and the experiences. Having been fortunate throughout his career in horticulture to have served many sectors of the industry, Laird considered golf course superintendents to be the most professional of any vocational group he had met. Their technical skill, artistic flair and care for the

environment could not be questioned and he was always impressed by the quality of the work that they achieved against big odds. “As you get older you realise that the most important things in life are the experiences and learnings you have along the way as you go through ups and downs,” Laird mused in 2016. “To the AGCSA and the turf industry in general, I am eternally grateful for the lessons I learned while on the job which set me up for a long career in horticulture. “It’s fantastic to see how the organisation has progressed. Sure I had some part in it, but the foundation was already there with the people who make up the industry. I feel thankful that I had the opportunity to make a contribution to what I now see is a very strong and professional organisation and I congratulate those CEOs and boards after my time for the amazing job they did in taking a fledgling association as far as they have.” Editor’s Note: For more on Euan Laird’s time with the association, read his Distinguished Service Award article which appeared in ATM Volume 18.4 (Jul-Aug 2016). Laird was also interviewed as part of the 100th edition of ATM (Volume 17.5, Sep-Oct 2015). Both editions are accessible through the ATM Archive on the ASTMA website.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

AGRONOMY The best practices for managing soil microbes are those that adhere to well established agronomic principles. That is, growing healthy turf will provide the necessary resources for soil microbes to thrive

Conference

reflections

Leading agronomist John Neylan reflects on some of the content and discussions from the recent national conference and inaugural VGCSA-NSWGCSA country conference.

n June and August 2026, I attended two significant conferences – the Australian Sports Turf Management Conference in Melbourne and the inaugural VGCSA/ NSWGCSA Country Conference at Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Resort. Conferences are always of interest for a variety of reasons, whether it is the location, the content of the presentations, the speakers, getting together with colleagues, social events or the proximity to various iconic sports stadia and golf courses. Having attended both conferences, I have been reflecting on some of the content and the agronomic issues discussed.

of discussion during the workshop that intrigued me as an agronomist and worthy of further comment. The first related to the use of biostimulants and microbes to improve plant health and the second was about sand testing. The topic of biostimulants is interesting given the large number of products currently being sold in the turf industry and the many benefits often claimed. The question and discussion about sand testing was exasperating and made me wonder if we are learning anything.

MANAGING SAND PROFILES

Improving the soil microbiome is seen as a means of improving agricultural production in a changing climate and this aim is also being applied to turf management. In turf management, using biostimulants and microbes is often seen as a substitute for routine soil management practices. The turfgrass industry has for at least 40 years

The ‘Managing Sand Profiles’ workshop held on the Wednesday morning of the ASTMA conference in Melbourne included presentations from Bruce Macphee (senior agronomist, AGCSATech), Dr. Phil Ford (recently retired from Melbourne Polytechnic) and myself. There were two significant points 42

MANIPULATING THE TURFGRASS BIOME

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looked for a ‘bio-chemical’ method of thatch control, stimulating root growth, improving nutrient uptake, increasing resistance to stress and reducing pests and disease. The claims related to the use of biostimulants and microbes are extensive. The question is whether these claims can be substantiated or do they just make us ‘feel good’. The real question is what does the literature tell us? As part of my preparation for the workshop, I did a search of the Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) to better understand the current state of knowledge. The TGIF search yielded more than 1960 references of which only a small percentage related specifically to turf. In fact, there were very few peer reviewed papers on the commercial products available. In reading through the literature, Dr David Zuberer, from Texas A&M University, has written extensively on the topic and his 2012 USGA Green Section Record article still provides the best summary of where strong

Trichoderma spp.: Root stimulation, pathogen competition, organic matter breakdown. l Bacillus spp.: Rhizosphere colonisation, nutrient solubilisation, stress resilience. l Mycorrhizae (VAM/endomycorrhizae): Improved phosphorus uptake, drought tolerance. l Azospirillum spp.: Nitrogen association, root enhancement. l Pseudomonas spp.: Rhizosphere competition and nutrient cycling. In reviewing the microbial population and species diversity of various commercial products, it was noted that many products have high numbers of Trichoderma spp., Bacillus spp., Mycorrhizae Pseudomonas spp. and Rhizobium, either individually or in mixtures. At least there is some chance that the application of these microbial brews will influence the microbial population in turf, However, there are several caveats noted in the literature: l Introduced organisms are likely to be overwhelmed and outcompeted by the more numerous indigenous organisms. l There is no guarantee that introduced organisms will flourish under the existing moisture and pH conditions. l Surface application of materials exposes them to potentially harsh environmental conditions. So, what did I conclude from this literature review on soil microbes and biostimulants? l Turfgrass rootzone microbiology is a complex area of study with the interactions between different microbial species largely unknown. l There is no substitute for good turf management practices, including thatch control, soil aeration and balanced nutrition. l Healthy root growth equals an active microbial population. l Biostimulants and microbes may be beneficial as part of a well-balanced maintenance program, however, you need to run the program for 12 months or more before the benefits or otherwise are realised. l Every turf manager should read the article by Dr Zuberer (2012). l

Dr David Zuberer’s 2012 article in the USGA Green Section Record still provides the best summary of where strong microbial activity fits within a turf management program

There have been some plant physiological benefits demonstrated with the use of Trichoderma spp., Bacillus spp. and Mycorrhizal fungi. l When microbes are applied to established turf there is a question as to whether they will survive. Large volumes of water have to be applied post-application to get the microbes into the active rootzone. Organic materials and microbial inoculants are used by the turf industry because there is an assumption there are few microbes present in the turfgrass system or the “wrong” microbes are present. Research has demonstrated that bacterial numbers within the first six months after seeding a newly constructed green to creeping bentgrass can be close to the numbers found in a mature green (Bigelow et al. 2002). The rapid growth of roots, high nutrition and adequate soil moisture provides a good food source for microbes and stimulates a rapid increase in microbial numbers. From my field experience the problem is likely to be more to do with an imbalance in the microbial population rather than total numbers. Typical microbial populations in healthy turf rootzones consist of bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, protozoa and nematodes, with bacteria being the dominant microbial group in most turf soils. The numbers of microorganisms in healthy soils are in the millions of cells per gram of soil depending on the species. The function of the microbial population is summarised in the following bullet points and on face value could be expected to have some positive effect on turf health. Given the existing high microbial numbers, could the application of microbes have any significant benefits?

PHOTO: BRETT ROBINSON

microbial activity fits within a turf management program. He states that the best practices for managing soil microbes are those that adhere to well established agronomic principles. That is, growing healthy turf will provide the necessary resources for soil microbes to thrive. Balanced nutrition, active root growth and good aeration will ensure there is an adequate food source, good aeration and sufficient moisture to grow “healthy” microbial populations. In providing a summary of the literature, the following notes are provided: l Turfgrass systems have extensive and diverse microbial populations. l It is unclear whether introduced bacteria can influence bacterial populations in the phyllosphere, thatch, rhizosphere soil or bulk soil. l Soil inoculums/additives may alter soil microbiology in the short-term, but their use on established turfgrass soils is questionable.

SAND TESTING During the workshop discussion, the question of testing methodologies came up – again! It wasn’t so much that the question was based around the USGA vs the McIntyre and Jakobsen methods and which is ‘the best’, but the extraordinary response. The answer provided was that sand samples should be sent to a USGA-accredited soil testing laboratory in the USA. Having been involved in testing sands for many major projects during SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 43

AGRONOMY

PHOTO: ROYAL SYDNEY GC

Research by Bigelow et. al. (2002) demonstrated that bacterial numbers within the first six months after seeding a newly constructed green to creeping bentgrass can be close to the numbers found in a mature green

of peat moss. Consequently, we modified the PSD requirements to better reflect the sands that functioned well in the field. There are two acknowledged methodologies in Australia for testing sands used in the construction of golf greens and sports fields which are: l McIntyre and Jakobsen (1998). l USGA Greens Section Methods (ASTM F1815-11(2018)). These tests are part of an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard. Both the ASTM F1815 and McIntyre and Jakobsen test methods cover the standard procedures and related calculations for determining the PSD, saturated hydraulic conductivity, water retention and porosity of sand-based rootzone mixtures. The fundamental difference between the two methodologies is the way that the sands are compacted for the saturated hydraulic conductivity test. Interestingly, the ASTM method does not calculate the bulk density which is a fundamental measure of compaction. The

PHOTO: GARY BEEHAG

my 40 years it was a baffling answer. So, let’s have another look at what is available to the turfgrass industry in Australia. The testing of sands for sports turf applications has been developed over at least 60 years and has been based on the testing methods developed for soils more broadly. Over time the tests have been refined to better reflect the sand-dominated rootzones, with the USGA undertaking most of the development work in this area (www.usga.org/content/usga/ home-page/course-care/digitalcollections/ creating-usga-putting-green.html). McIntyre and Jakobsen (1998) developed similar testing methodologies that can be argued better reflect Australian conditions. Dr. Bent Jakobsen was a CSIRO soil scientist that developed the current methodologies while working at Canberra’s City Parks Technical Services Unit. When I was at the Turf Research and Advisory Institute, we determined that for many of the available sands that met the USGA requirements for particle size distribution (PSD), they were too coarse, lacked stability and required large quantities

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degree of compaction influences the pore space and the movement of water to give us the hydraulic conductivity measurement. If there is an anomalous result for the hydraulic conductivity it is often related to ineffective compaction of the sample. The key elements of the testing procedures are: l Before any soil is used for testing, the whole sample received must be made homogeneous and oven-dried. l Samples must have water extracted at a soil suction of -3kPa (30cm) which is near to Field Capacity prior to compacting for hydraulic conductivity. The moisture content at Field Capacity provides maximum compaction. If the sand is too dry, the particles “roll” around each other and don’t interlock. If the sample is too wet, the soil can become “liquid” which prevents particle interpacking. This is a critical and a non-negotiable step in achieving a consistent result. l The method of sample compaction prior to testing the drainage rate varies between the ASTM and McIntyre and Jakobsen test methods. In discussing the methods with laboratory managers, the following points are made; l The ASTM F1815-11 (2018) method compacts the sample through a falling weight from a set height onto the sample. This method uses dynamic compaction and when dynamic force is applied it can cause particle displacement because sands are not compressible. l The McIntyre and Jakobsen method compacts the sample by dropping the tube containing the sample from a set height. This method uses self-weight to induce compaction at various compaction levels to achieve the highest compaction possible tested when the sands are at field capacity. l Hydraulic conductivity is proportional to the bulk density and bulk density must always be calculated. The higher the bulk density the lower the hydraulic conductivity. l On sands that have very few fine particles (<0.053mm) the difference in the hydraulic conductivity between the two methods is negligible. The testing of sands for sports turf applications has been developed over at least 60 years and has been based on the testing methods developed for soils more broadly. Over time the tests have been refined to better reflect sand-dominated rootzones

The resultant test report must include; l Hydraulic conductivity. l Capillary and aeration porosities. These calculations provide essential information on water availability for plant growth and soil aeration for root growth and root health. l Bulk density as a measure of the susceptibility of the sand to compaction and as a check as to whether the sand has been sufficiently compacted for the hydraulic conductivity test. There are several soils laboratories operating in Australia that undertake this specialist testing of sands for sports turf rootzones. Interestingly, the sand testing for the majority of the major stadium and golf course projects over the past 25-plus years has used the Jakobsen-McIntyre test methods. The testing laboratories that I recommend are within a larger soils laboratory that undertakes soil testing for geotechnical purposes. The benefit of having the testing undertaken within such laboratories means there will be quality systems within the laboratory which governs the validity and accuracy of the tests. The bottom line is that you do not need to send samples to the USA! So, the take home messages are: l Determine the experience of the laboratory and what quality systems they have in place. l Ask what test methods are used. l Make sure the report includes all of the relevant information (i.e.: hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, capillary porosity and aeration porosity). l If you are happy with a laboratory, stay with them. Even between laboratories using the same test methods the results can vary. l

ORGANIC MATTER CONTROL AND SAND TOPDRESSING As I have written on many occasions, the underlying cause of many turf problems can be related to the accumulation of organic matter. Whether it is poor water infiltration, soft putting surfaces, localised dry spot or disease, it can all be linked back to excess organic matter. At the joint VGCSA-NSWGCSA Country Conference, guest speaker Dr Micah Woods (pictured right) gave a detailed presentation on organic matter accumulation, organic matter measurement and sand dusting/topdressing as a method of control. Dr Woods is well known through the Asian Turfgrass Center (www.asianturfgrass.com) and PACE Turf (paceturf.org) and in particular his extensive research and writings on all things turf management. His presentation was most timely given some of the work that I have been recently involved in and the constant discussions related to organic matter control while minimising surface disturbance and how much sand to apply. It’s interesting to reflect on Dr Woods’ thoughts on the importance of measuring organic matter and matching this against growth rates (clipping yields) and the quantity of sand being applied. Long-time colleague David Nickson did his Masters thesis on thatch control in bentgrass putting greens (Nickson, 2000) and was the first research project in Australia to identify the importance of regular light sand dustings for effective thatch control. He concluded that dusting every 2-3 weeks was required and the frequency was determined by the growth rate of the turf with the aim being to develop an even mix of sand and organic matter. Not much has changed in 26 years!

At the joint VGCSA-NSWGCSA Country Conference, Dr Micah Woods (top) gave a detailed presentation on organic matter accumulation, organic matter measurement and sand dusting/topdressing as a method of control. Above, David Nickson’s research on thatch control in bentgrass putting greens (2000) was the first research project in Australia to identify the importance of regular light sand dustings for effective thatch control

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PHOTOS: USGA

AGRONOMY

Regular sand dusting (left) has become the key to managing organic matter accumulation in putting greens while minimising surface disruption. Measuring clipping volume (above) provides an empirical measure of what is observed and can be related back to the amount of sand required

Dr Woods cited the work of Moeller and Lowe (2016) which concluded that while there are many agronomic programs that influence the playability and health of putting greens, organic matter management is the most important. This is a conclusion that I would strongly agree with. Nickson (2000) and numerous others have noted that routine maintenance activities of core aeration, scarifying and heavy topdressing are disliked by most golfers due to the disruption to the playing surface. It has been clear in my own recent experience that as the rounds of golf have increased, it has compromised many of the activities required to manage organic matter accumulation. Regular sand dustings have become the key to managing organic matter accumulation while minimising surface disruption. While the fundamentals of organic matter control have changed little in the past 25 plus years, the turf industry has refined how it measures the effects of organic matter accumulation and more importantly the effectiveness of the control strategies. Dr Woods has collected a large amount of data across many sites and presented several examples where growth rate and clipping volume was related to the volume

of sand required to control organic matter accumulation. He also demonstrated the direct relationship between clipping volume and green speed. Combined with the measurement of organic matter at 0-2cm, 2-4cm and 4-6cm depths (OM246), it provides several empirical measures that will assist superintendents in determining the effectiveness of their organic matter control program. The literature cites a broad range of how much sand should be applied every year. I would treat these numbers with caution given that the data has been collected in different climates and on different grass species. Importantly, the nitrogen rates quoted are often considerably higher than what is used on bentgrass greens in Australia. In paraphrasing Dr Woods, every golf course is different and the data presented is a demonstration of how turf managers can best determine the needs for managing organic matter. The take home messages for me were; l Every golf course is different. l Measure organic matter annually on selected greens. l Measure the clipping volume on selected greens. This is an empirical measure of what is observed but can be related back to the amount of sand required.

Measure firmness, green speed and soil moisture on a regular basis, including the winter months. Collate the rounds of golf and relate this to your ability to undertake the required applications of sand. Read the research of David Nickson (2000).

REFERENCES David Zuberer (2012). Soil Microbes: Some practical perspectives for turfgrass systems. USGA Green Section Record Vol. 50 (15) July 20, 2012. Bigelow, C.A., D.C. Bowman, and A.G. Wollum II. 2002. Characterization of soil microbial population dynamics in newly constructed sand-based rootzones. Crop Science. Vol. 42, No. 5, September/October 2002, p. 1611-1614. Department Urban Services, ACT Government 1993. Canberra Landscape Guidelines, Soil Testing Procedure LG B22. Design Standards for Urban Infrastructure 24 Sportsground Design www.cityservices.act.gov.au/data/assets/ pdf_file/0009/396846/Sportsgrounds-24_ Revision2_2010.pdf ASTM F1815-11(2018). Standard Test Methods for Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity, Water Retention, Porosity, and Bulk Density of Athletic Field Rootzones. Nickson, David C. 2000. Thatch Control on a Newly Constructed Bentgrass Putting Green Built to a Modified United States Golf Association Specification. Australian Turfgrass Management. Vol. 2, No. 4, August/September 2000, p.22-26. Moeller, Adam; Lowe, Todd. 2016. Managing Organic Matter in Putting Greens. USGA Green Section Record. Nov 4. 54(21): p.1-7. While there are many agronomic programs that influence the playability and health of putting greens, organic matter management is the most important. There is no substitute for good turf management practices including thatch control, soil aeration and balanced nutrition

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

JOHN FORREST Working on a golf course brings with it so many benefits and combines two increasingly interconnected worlds – our stunning natural environment and technology

job

A career in sports turf management offers a unique combination of outdoor work, environmental stewardship, technology and teamwork. Yet attracting and retaining staff is still one of its greatest challenges. ATM columnist

John Forrest looks at how the industry can build a more sustainable workforce.

olf’s growing popularity, particularly in the aftermath of Covid-19, is placing additional pressure on golf course maintenance teams not only here in Australia but worldwide. The R&A’s 2025 Global Participation Report noted that 112.2 million adults and juniors were playing golf outside the United States and Mexico – an increase of 4.2m year-on-year – with clubs expected to deliver consistently high-quality playing surfaces amid increasing workloads and an ongoing shortage of skilled staff. As most superintendents will tell you, finding and retaining employees is a major challenge at present and one that is unlikely to disappear without a concerted effort to attract new people and create workplaces where they want to build their careers. Information published by Australian Golf Digest from a recent Greenway Turf Solutions survey highlighted the scale of the problem, with 41 per cent of golf course respondents identifying recruiting and retaining qualified staff as their biggest challenge. Many people who enter our profession do so through a genuine passion for the work and the satisfaction that comes with being 48

part of a team that presents a course to the highest possible standard. The challenge is ensuring more people discover the rewarding nature and opportunities available in our industry, while providing the training, career development and workplace support needed to retain them.

PROMOTING AN INDUSTRY OF OPPORTUNITY One of the industry’s biggest challenges is raising awareness of sports turf management as a career path. Interest often comes from people who already have a connection to golf, although this is not essential. Many successful superintendents, for instance, do not play the game themselves. In Western Australia, the industry also has the added challenge of competing with the mining sector, where higher salaries can be a major attraction. Regularly reviewing wages, benefits and employment conditions is therefore essential. Competitive remuneration should form part of a club’s strategic planning to attract qualified candidates and retain staff. As we all know, the industry has much more to offer prospective employees than simply cutting grass. A golf course combines

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two increasingly interconnected worlds – the natural environment and technology. Turf managers work with living surfaces while managing broader landscapes that include trees, native vegetation, waterways and wildlife habitats. At the same time, technology is transforming maintenance practices and will continue to do so into the future. Autonomous mowers, precision sprayers, moisture sensors, digital data collection, predictive disease risk tools and irrigation scheduling are helping to greatly improve efficiency and reduce labour inputs for particular tasks. Such developments may be especially attractive to younger people who have grown up with digital technology. ‘Generation Z’, generally defined as those born from the late 1990s to the early 2010s, is familiar with technology as an everyday part of life. Demonstrating how it is being applied in modern turf management could help the industry connect with a new generation of potential employees to consider a career they might otherwise overlook. Importantly, that technology will not eliminate the need for skilled turf managers. As participation and rounds played increase, interpreting data, assessing conditions

PHOTO: BESCHEN POU

More than a

and making informed decisions about turf performance will still very much require that human touch. The industry needs to promote this combination of outdoor work, environmental stewardship and technology more effectively. Sporting organisations, golf associations, suppliers and registered training organisations (RTOs) should all work together to showcase the opportunities available. Golf introduction programs could include an element introducing young people to sports turf management, while careers days could provide hands-on experiences with maintenance equipment and emerging technologies. The First Green program, which has been rolled out successfully at Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide, is just one example of this (www.astma.com.au/education/first-green). Training qualifications must also keep pace with workplace developments. Greater exposure to technology, alongside appropriate land management, arboriculture and environmental management skills, would better prepare employees for the broader responsibilities of modern course maintenance. There may also be merit in developing specialist streams or pathways within turf management, allowing employees to build expertise in areas such as irrigation, machinery, technology or environmental management. Such pathways could accommodate different interests while creating further opportunities for career progression.

WORKPLACE TRAINING

profession. Providing similar support to the next generation is essential and more important than ever. Strong relationships between employers and RTOs help ensure classroom theory is reinforced through practical workplace experience. Employers should understand the units their apprentices are studying, provide opportunities to practise the required skills under appropriate supervision and monitor their progress. Take the Certificate III in Sports Turf Management unit AHCCHM307 ‘Prepare and apply chemicals to control pests, weeds and diseases’, one of the qualification’s 18 core units. This particular unit comprises five elements: l Determine the need for chemical use and prepare an application plan; l Prepare chemical mixes; l Calibrate application equipment; l Apply chemicals; and l Clean up equipment and complete records.

Each element includes performance criteria describing what the learner must demonstrate. With 31 performance criteria across the unit, classroom instruction alone is unlikely to provide sufficient opportunities to develop every required skill, particularly within the allocated training hours. Workplace experience is indispensable. When chemicals are applied, supervisors can explain what is being used, why it has been selected and its role in managing weeds, insects or disease. Repeated, supervised practice helps employees develop the necessary skills and confidence. Experience also varies between facilities. One apprentice may regularly undertake particular tasks, while another may have limited exposure. Communication between the employer and RTO can identify these gaps and ensure additional learning opportunities are provided. Workplace training can benefit the wider team, too. At some facilities, apprentices will give informal lunchtime presentations about

PHOTO: LIV GOLF MEDIA

Attracting new employees is just the beginning. Developing their skills and confidence requires a commitment to workplace training, mentoring and ongoing professional development. Many experienced turf managers can identify a mentor who helped them learn, develop their skills and discover a passion for the

New technology is continually transforming golf course maintenance practices and will continue to do so. Such developments may be especially attractive to younger people who have grown up with digital technology as an everyday part of their lives

Opportunities to volunteer at tournaments can provide valuable experience, expose employees to different course maintenance practices and boost industry connections

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

JOHN FORREST what they have learnt at TAFE that week. This encourages interaction, reinforces learning and allows apprentices to share new knowledge with their colleagues.

MORE THAN MONEY Competitive wages are important, but other benefits can help make a career in turf management more attractive. Opportunities to volunteer or assist at tournaments and major sporting events, locally, interstate or overseas, can provide valuable experience and expose employees to different turf maintenance practices. International internship programs, such as The

Ohio Program, also demonstrate the value of exchanging people, skills and experience. Clubs could also establish reciprocal arrangements with other facilities, allowing apprentices and staff to swap workplaces at different times of the year. Such programs would broaden experience and encourage knowledge-sharing across different turf varieties, climates and management systems. Within clubs, flexible working arrangements (where practical) and support for further education (e.g.: undertaking the Diploma) can demonstrate a commitment to career development. Access to the golf course may also appeal to employees who play golf.

Ultimately, employers need to create workplaces where people feel valued, see opportunities to progress and understand how their contribution supports the wider operation.

THE ROLE OF CLUB GOVERNANCE Attracting and retaining staff is not solely the superintendent’s responsibility. Club boards, committees and general managers also have an important role in creating conditions where course maintenance teams can succeed. As participation has increased, many clubs have developed into larger, more complex businesses. Regular reviews, clear strategic plans and sound governance are essential

WHY THE TURF INDUSTRY?

TM columnist John Forrest is a life member of Hartfield Country Club (HCC) in Perth, in addition to his life member status with the GCSAWA. He has been on the club’s committee for the past 27 years and is currently Course Director, a role he has held for the past 14 years. As part of this column’s look at attracting and retaining staff, he quizzed Hartfield’s nine course staff, led by superintendent Rob Williams, about why they got into the turf industry, what attracted them to it and what will keep them in it. ROB WILLIAMS Superintendent (two years at HCC) l Golf was the original attraction. When young, enjoyed finishing early and having the rest of the day to do things. l Improving surfaces, building a good team, being outdoors, an interest in the natural environment and native species. l Passion. SAM BOUQUET Assistant superintendent, qualified tradesman (five years at HCC) l Love of sport and working outdoors in a natural landscape; original attraction was the unknown in what was involved. l The most rewarding part is seeing the finished product on a Friday afternoon. l Strong team culture and supportive learning environment is especially important for apprentices. Provide genuine opportunities for development, clear-cut career paths and competitive wages. AIDEN SLOAN Qualified tradesman (22 years at HCC) l Golf course environment appealed. l Good team environment supported by a good management team. Always looking to improve the course. l Reasonable money. 50

The Hartfield Country Club crew is led by course superintendent Rob Williams (centre). Pictured left (from top down) are 2IC Sam Bouquet, Harry Traylen, Ryan Hogg and Ryan Armstrong-Boase. Pictured right (from top down) are Aiden Sloan, Mike Toki, Jacob Austen and Mitchell Crabb

MIKE TOKI Qualified tradesman (13 years at HCC) l Being passionate about the job provides motivation, with a wide range of jobs keeping things interesting. l Having a good team on the ground and in the office. Always something to improve on the course. l Playing golf helps. RYAN HOGG Qualified tradesman (first year at HCC) l Loves sport. Answered an ad posted on Facebook when at school. l Great lifestyle, outdoors and hands-on. HARRY TRAYLEN Qualified tradesman (first year at HCC) l Has a passion for golf. l Always appreciated the quality and presentation of a great golf course, especially for tournament golf. Interested in how to present the best surfaces.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

Loves golf which will keep him in the industry, but would like to see it grow.

JACOB AUSTEN 2nd-year apprentice l Family involved in the industry (father is current TAFE teacher Jeff Austen). l Started doing work experience then was offered an apprenticeship. l Working hours – finish early. Not stressful. RYAN ARMSTRONG-BOASE Mature-age 1st-year apprentice l Working outdoors. l Lifestyle – starting early, finishing early. l Liveable wage and working environment. MITCHELL CRABB Mature-age 1st-year apprentice l Family involved in golf. From a FIFO role. l Working in a team environment and likes the opportunity to keep learning and improving skills.

Attracting new employees is just the beginning. Developing their skills and confidence requires a commitment to workplace training, mentoring and ongoing professional development

to balancing member expectations with the resources required to maintain the facility. In many clubs, a GM oversees operations and reports to a board or committee. A strong working relationship between the GM and superintendent is particularly important, allowing technical requirements and business priorities to be considered together. However, golf course maintenance presents challenges that can be difficult for those without a technical understanding of turf management to appreciate. Playing surfaces change with the seasons, weather, wear and stress, yet members may expect consistent conditions throughout the year. Increasing rounds place further pressure on maintenance teams, while expectations for near-tournament playing conditions can make decisions about managing stressed turf more difficult. Clubs with substantial budgets may bring in a new course architect and invest in new greens or other improvements to deliver a premium experience. Facilities with fewer resources, however, must manage expectations and balance playing quality against the costs and practicalities of maintenance. This is where clear communication between course staff, management and members is essential to explaining maintenance decisions and establishing realistic priorities.

A SUPPORTIVE WORKPLACE The way clubs treat their superintendents and maintenance teams can also strongly influence whether employees remain in the profession. Across the industry, we have seen numerous stories of superintendents who have devoted years to producing quality courses but subsequently face intense pressure from dissatisfied members. When concerns are not properly investigated, or decisions are driven

by the loudest voices rather than evidence, trust and workplace morale can suffer. These situations can also place general managers in a difficult position as they balance competing expectations. However, younger employees observing how their managers are treated may question whether they want to pursue a long-term career in the industry. If a superintendent is called into a meeting to discuss their performance or a matter that could lead to termination, they should have a fair opportunity to explain technical decisions and respond to concerns. Boards must ensure that workplace processes are appropriate and that decisions are based on evidence rather than rumour or personal grievances. Section 387(d) of the Fair Work Act 2009 identifies an unreasonable refusal of a support person’s request at a dismissal-related meeting as a relevant consideration when assessing the fairness of a dismissal. Clubs should understand their employment obligations and handle potentially serious workplace matters appropriately. More broadly, a healthy workplace depends on open communication and mutual respect. Employees need clear pathways to

raise concerns and confidence that they will be heard. Communication must work both ways, with all parties prepared to listen and consider different perspectives. Technical expertise must also be respected. When architects, agronomists or other consultants are invited to discuss matters affecting maintenance, the superintendent should be included. Their knowledge of the facility, its history and operational constraints is essential to informed decision-making. Many clubs demonstrate how well these relationships can work when good governance, effective communication and professional respect are priorities. Our industry offers a wonderful combination of outdoor work, environmental stewardship, technology, practical skills and teamwork and camaraderie. But promoting these opportunities will only go so far if the workplace experience fails to match the promise. If the industry wants young people to develop their skills and become its future leaders, it must offer more than a job. It must provide a workplace where people want to be, where their contribution is valued and where they can see a future for themselves.

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SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

ENVIRONMENT Across Australia and New Zealand, the most successful sustainability projects consistently focussed on five core themes, with one of the main ones being the re-establishment and promotion of native plant communities

gems Golf course environmental experts Kate Torgersen and Monina Gilbey provide a summary of their recently published Biodiversity Benefits of Golf in Australia and New Zealand report. Commissioned by The R&A, it has uncovered how golf courses are providing significant nature-positive environmental impacts.

any of us who work in the turf industry know of environmental projects underway at various golf courses. However, there hasn’t really been a summary of the projects underway around Australia and New Zealand… until now! About a year ago, The R&A approached us to author a scoping report about the biodiversity benefits of golf in Australia. We immediately recognised the opportunity to broaden the geographic canvas to include New Zealand/Aotearoa as well. At the beginning, we believed we had a firm grasp on environmental sustainability practices, however, as the submissions started coming in we uncovered a wide array of environmental projects that took us completely by surprise. A recurring theme quickly became evident early into the submission process – golf course superintendents are a humble group. Day after day, course staff undertake significant habitat restoration, wildlife conservation, wetland construction and resource-efficiency projects 52

without fanfare, viewing these actions simply as good land stewardship. Unearthing these hidden gems sometimes required persistent follow-up, but the stories we uncovered reveal an industry operating at the leading edge of practical environmental conservation. The projects highlighted in this article represent a foundational starting point. We warmly invite clubs undertaking environmental initiatives to continue sharing their stories as this industry-wide transformation evolves.

CORE THEMES The R&A Biodiversity Benefits of Golf in Australia and New Zealand report is structured around the core pillars of The R&A’s Golf Course 2030 (GC2030) initiative – biodiversity, sustainable agronomy, resources and climate resilience. We received over 30 detailed submissions spanning private metropolitan clubs, public municipal facilities and regional country courses across both nations. This broad sample provided a clear picture of how facilities of varying sizes and budgets are adapting to environmental challenges.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

Across Australia and New Zealand, the most successful projects consistently focus on five core themes: l Restoring indigenous vegetation: Re-establishing native plant communities and removing invasive weed species. l Protecting threatened wildlife: Creating sanctuaries and targeted habitat corridors for endangered fauna and flora. l Securing water and resource resilience: Moving away from potable water sources through circular reuse models, wetland filtration and aquifer recharge. l Building climate resilience: Using tree canopies, soil health and naturalised roughs to absorb carbon, lower urban temperatures and mitigate flood risks. l Collaborating with communities: Partnering with First Nations groups, universities, local councils and schools to embed golf courses within their surrounding communities. Crucially, these projects contribute significantly to biodiversity without compromising playability or course

PHOTO: ROYAL SYDNEY GOLF CLUB

Hidden

presentation. In fact, they enhance playability, improve course character, reduce maintenance overheads and secure long-term operational viability.

BIODIVERSITY RESTORATION Golf courses occupy extensive green footprints within increasingly urbanised landscapes. They function as critical refuges for indigenous flora and fauna amidst urbanisation and habitat fragmentation. Examples from the report include: l Busselton Golf Club (WA): Demonstrating the role of courses as aquatic refuges, Busselton became the site for over 35,000 vulnerable Carter’s freshwater mussels (Westralunio carteri). Relocated as part of Vasse River Diversion Drain flood protection upgrade works, these keystone filter-feeders act as nature’s water purifiers. By filtering bacteria, organic matter and excess nutrients, the translocated mussel populations significantly enhance biological filtration and overall aquatic health throughout the river system which flows directly through the golf course. l The Grange Golf Club (SA): Protects 1.8 hectares of sensitive Slender cypress pine (Callitris gracilis) woodlands, which support the last known Adelaide Plains population of the endangered Sandhill Greenhood Orchid (Pterostylis arenicola) using protective barrier fencing. l Royal Sydney Golf Club (NSW): The redevelopment of its championship course involved establishing 500,000 native plants, quadrupling floral diversity and restoring critically Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub – an ecologically endangered plant

The projects uncovered as part of the report reveal that the golf course industry is operating at the leading edge of practical environmental conservation

community native to Sydney’s coastal sandstone soils (see ATM Volume 28.4 ‘Royal Sydney stays the course’, p18-23). Mount Osmond Golf Club (SA): Planted indigenous grass species critical to the survival of the critically-endangered Cryptic sun moth (Synemon theresa).

WATER SECURITY AND RESOURCE RESILIENCE Unpredictable weather patterns, recurring droughts and rising municipal water costs are driving golf facilities toward circular resource models. By treating natural assets as closedloop systems, clubs are eliminating reliance on

potable water supplies, re-purposing organic on-site materials and strengthening regional infrastructure resilience. Examples include: l Glenelg Golf Club (SA): Operates an advanced Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) system. Stormwater is biologically filtered through constructed wetlands before aquifer injection, securing irrigation needs, mitigating downstream flood risk and creating wetland habitat for native frogs and fish. l Shoalhaven Heads Golf Club (NSW): Irrigates entirely with treated community effluent, completely eliminating mains water reliance while preventing nutrient runoff into local catchments. l Royal Sydney Golf Club (NSW): Applied a closed-loop vegetation management model by retaining all fallen timber across the property. Tree trunks and branches were salvaged and repurposed on-site into high-quality course furniture, including tee markers and log water fountains. l Regional collaborative infrastructure – The Dingley Recycled Water Scheme: At a landscape scale, the Dingley Recycled Water Scheme in southeast Melbourne will deliver high-quality recycled water to several iconic Melbourne Sandbelt golf courses, representing one of the most significant collaborative water infrastructure projects undertaken in Australian golf.

CLIMATE RESILIENCE Through expansive tree canopies, permeable soils and dense stands of trees, golf courses function as natural climate infrastructure. They mitigate the urban heat island effect, providing urban cooling, carbon storage and absorb

A number of projects demonstrated how clubs are building climate resilience by incorporating naturalised rough areas to reduce maintenance inputs and carbon emissions

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 53

ENVIRONMENT l

Busselton Golf Club in WA has become home to over 35,000 vulnerable Carter’s freshwater mussels (left), while Heidelberg Golf Club in Melbourne uses Boer goats (right) to manage weeds on steep embankments

extreme rainfall events. Some examples highlighted in the report include: l Royal Auckland & Grange Golf Club (NZ): Features an 80-hectare turf network and over 11,700 catalogued trees that collectively offset more than 2700 tonnes of CO2 annually. The site also functions as a critical retention basin for the regional Papatoetoe stormwater catchment during heavy rainfall events. l Bonnie Doon Golf Club (NSW): Is actively selecting and trailing heat-

tolerant, drought-resistant native plant species suited for projected temperature increases. By selecting flora adapted to future climatic conditions, the club maintains long-term landscape integrity while reducing supplemental watering and chemical protection.

SUSTAINABLE AGRONOMY Modern turf management is shifting from heavy chemical inputs toward precision agronomy, biological controls and targeted turf selection.

Royal Canberra Golf Club (ACT): Converted fairways from bentgrass to hybrid couchgrass. This transition significantly reduced summer irrigation requirements, fertiliser usage and fungicide applications without sacrificing playing surface quality. The Cliffs – Kangaroo Island (SA): Selected drought-tolerant hybrid couchgrass for maximum soil stabilisation and turf health under challenging coastal conditions. This drought-tolerant turfgrass delivers soil stabilisation in high-wind zones, maintains density under salt spray and drastically reduces reliance on bore water reserves. Heidelberg Golf Club (Vic): Introduced a managed herd of Boer goats to graze along steep, inaccessible river embankments. This biological weed control method eliminated the need for chemical herbicide spraying and heavy machinery near sensitive riparian zones. Wirrabara Golf Club (SA): Operating as a winter-only facility with sand greens, Wirrabara relies entirely on seasonal rainfall. To maintain weed control across wide fairways, the club uses precision drone spot-spraying, applying targeted treatments only where weeds are detected and protecting surrounding native grasses.

COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY VALUE Long-term environmental progress relies on partnerships outside the golf industry. Clubs across Australia and New Zealand are working alongside scientific researchers, First Nations groups, municipal councils and local schools. Some examples include: Academic and ecological partnerships l Fauna research: Partnerships with scientists – including Dr Monika Rhodes in Queensland and Harry Rust in South Australia – have identified golf courses as vital habitat hubs for insectivorous microbats. At Avondale Golf Club in Sydney, management collaborated with university researchers and local government to monitor microbat roosting sites and track local populations of the Long-nosed Bandicoot. l Invasive species control: Headland Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast partnered with researchers from the University of Queensland to trial pheromone-based trapping systems targeting Cane Toad tadpoles in course water storage dams, significantly reducing invasive toad populations before they reach maturity. Some of the key environmental outcomes recorded across the 30 clubs that participated in the Biodiversity Benefits report

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

First Nations engagement l Cultural naming and recognition: Nudgee Golf Club in Brisbane collaborated with the Turrbal people – the Traditional Custodians of the land – to honour the site’s Indigenous heritage. The club named its two 18-hole courses Kurrai (sunset) and Bulka (sunrise) in the Turrbal language. l Supporting Indigenous businesses: Avondale Golf Club in Sydney sources native plants for its bushland restoration projects directly from IndigiGrow, an Indigenous-owned social enterprise and nursery. This partnership integrates local flora into course naturalisation plans while supporting Indigenous employment. l Cultural storytelling and site interpretation: Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide worked alongside a local Kaurna Elder to interpret and document the Aboriginal cultural history of the land, embedding traditional ecological knowledge and cultural storytelling into member educational signage and broader community communications. Community connectivity School engagement: Lakeview Golf & Country Club near Rotorua in New Zealand invites local primary schools onto

Community partnership: Lakeside Golf Club in Sydney partnered with the Macarthur Beekeepers Association to host a permanent on-site base, including a secure apiary, honey production shed, storage and education facility. The club supports managed beehives across the course and regular community open days, raising public awareness about pollinator health and peri-urban habitat conservation.

DRIVING THE NEXT ERA

Royal Sydney Golf Club salvaged timber from on course tree removal and repurposed it into high-quality course furniture, including custom tee markers made by course staff

the course for native tree planting days, establishing over 1500 native plants. The club is also developing a community garden, converting unused course land into an accessible green space for local residents.

The findings of The R&A Biodiversity Benefits of Golf in Australia and New Zealand report demonstrate that golf courses are far more than recreational venues. They are functional environmental assets capable of protecting endangered flora, providing biological corridors for native fauna, purifying municipal water and cooling urban centres. The myth that environmental conservation comes at the expense of playability is being dismantled by golf clubs across both nations every day. As demonstrated by Busselton’s freshwater mussel translocations, Glenelg’s stormwater aquifer recovery, Royal Canberra’s turf conversion, Lakeview’s school-driven reforestation and Royal Auckland and Grange’s massive carbon sequestration and stormwater retention network, high-quality turf

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 55

ENVIRONMENT

THE R&A SUSTAINABLE GOLF NATIONAL ROADSHOW & GAME CHANGER WORKSHOPS

o share the findings of The R&A’s recently released Biodiversity Benefits of Golf in Australia and New Zealand report with the industry, The R&A partnered with the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association and Golf Management Australia to launch the Sustainable Golf National Roadshow. Hosted across Australia throughout August, the series included day-long events in Melbourne (Kew GC), Adelaide (Mount Osmond GC), Perth (Mount Lawley GC), Sydney (Killara GC) and Brisbane (Nudgee GC). The morning educational sessions featured presentations across key pillars of sustainable management, including: l Dr. Brett Morris (The R&A): Presented global trends and agronomic insights under The R&A’s Golf Course 2030 strategy, as well as giving practical ideas on managing turf and monitoring key operational data. l Kate Torgersen (Environmental Golf Solutions) & Monina Gilbey (Green Gecko Studios): Outlined key findings from the co-authored Biodiversity Benefits report, sharing practical case studies on how clubs can integrate biodiversity projects into everyday operations. l Ben Gibson (The Toolbox Team): Spoke on leadership, organisational culture and building safe, supportive working environments for golf course staff (on course and in the clubhouse).

In small groups of two to six participants, players work through target question cards and rank their facility’s motivational readiness along a visual spectrum. By assessing organisational culture, board alignment and internal commitment, the exercise establishes a shared foundation – ensuring future environmental strategies are built on realistic, well-supported goals. 2. The ‘WAWE’ Game: Named after four core GC2030 themes – Water, mAterials (agronomy inputs), Waste and Energy – this module acts as an interactive diagnostic tool to align awareness across a club’s management tiers. Participants map out their course’s specific operational context, including course age, hole count, membership size, greenkeeping resources and facility footprint. Groups then assemble puzzle pieces corresponding to each theme to review current resource consumption, identify operational bottlenecks and pinpoint immediate efficiency opportunities. The insights gathered are synthesised into a structured ‘Sustainable Game Plan’ which is a key outcome of the Game Changer platform. The Game Plan helps participants translate workshop insights into practical sustainability actions at their own golf facilities. It provides a structured approach to identifying priorities, defining responsibilities and establishing clear next steps, ensuring that sustainability becomes part of everyday decision-making and long-term club development. To support continued learning and implementation beyond the workshops, participants can also access the GC2030 Sustainability Carbon Footprint Calculator through a QR code provided in the Game Changer materials. This enables clubs to establish an emissions baseline, monitor progress and connect their sustainability actions with measurable outcomes.

THE GAME CHANGER PLATFORM During the afternoon sessions, participants joined a four-hour interactive workshop led by Jacob Thomsen, a sustainability specialist and Associate Professor at UCL University College in Denmark, specialising in sustainable golf development, climate action and organisational transformation. Developed by Thomsen for the GC2030 initiative in collaboration with the Dansk Golf Union, Game Changer is an interactive, gamebased learning platform designed for general managers, superintendents, course staff and board members to move beyond viewing sustainability as isolated projects and instead embed environmental practices into daily club operations. Game-based learning serves as an active tool that promotes critical thinking, collaborative decision-making and riskfree experimentation without real-world consequences. Rather than imposing rigid targets, the workshop equips club leaders with a structured framework to evaluate their current capabilities, foster teamwork across departments and adapt as environmental standards evolve. The Game Changer platform involves three ‘games’… 56

Superintendents, course staff, general managers and board members combined for the recent R&A Sustainability Roadshow workshops across the country. Jacob Thomsen (top right) introduced attendees to The R&A’s ‘Game Changer’ platform, a game-based learning tool that promotes critical thinking and collaborative decision-making

1. The Motivation Game: Grounded in research on intrinsic and extrinsic organisational motivation, this initial exercise steps back from technical planning to examine a club’s underlying culture.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

3. The Triple Bottom Line Expansion: The broader platform – not played in these sessions – also features an extended module evaluating facility-wide performance across social (people), environmental (planet) and economic (profit) metrics. This exercise breaks down performance across specific operational zones, including greens, fairways, roughs, maintenance sheds, pro shops and clubhouses. By combining the research of The R&A’s Biodiversity Benefits of Golf in Australia and New Zealand report with the interactive decision-making of the Game Changer workshops, the national roadshow provided a complete roadmap for facilities to convert sustainability concepts into long-term operational success.

presentation and nature-positive stewardship actively reinforce each other. However, realising the full potential of golf’s green footprint requires a coordinated commitment across every tier of industry leadership. Superintendents and turf managers play a direct role in execution by shifting maintenance practices toward low-input, nature-positive turf management, including: l Out-of-play areas: Identifying nonessential playing areas suitable for creating naturalised areas and introducing plants for pollinators and local fauna. l Low-input turf trials: Trialling droughttolerant and lower-input turfgrass varieties to reduce water, fertiliser, and chemical dependence. l Baseline data collection: Capturing precise baseline data on water, fertiliser and energy use to provide hard evidence that justifies future environmental project investments. Clubs’ executive leadership (general managers and club boards) also play a critical role and must embed sustainability into high-level governance and long-term capital planning, including: l Strategic alignment: Formally embed nature-positive goals into strategic plans and annual capital expenditure budgets.

Co-funding and grants: Apply for grants, or partner with local and state bodies for joint environmental grants for wetland restoration, native canopy expansion and flood mitigation. l Data and research sharing: Work with universities and scientific agencies to conduct on-course biodiversity monitoring, rewilding projects, soil carbon trials and water quality testing. The project stories gathered in this report mark the beginning of a long-term industry shift. As facilities restore biodiversity, build water and resource resilience, adapt to climate change, implement precision agronomy and foster First Nations and community partnerships, Australia and New Zealand’s golf courses are proving that world-class playing surfaces and environmental stewardship go hand in hand. l

Avondale Golf Club in Sydney collaborated with university researchers and local government to monitor microbat roosting sites on the course

Governance: Leverage frameworks like The R&A’s GC2030 initiative to align board vision with industry standards. l Operational culture: Use structured alignment tools – such as the Game Changer workshop (see opposite page for more on this) – to transition sustainability from isolated projects into daily operational culture. Strengthening collaborative partnerships with local councils, research bodies and government organisations should be a focus for clubs where possible: l

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Authors Kate Torgersen and Monina Gilbey wish to extend their thanks to John Kemp and Dr Brett Morris at The R&A for commissioning them to undertake this report and for their ongoing support. Both the full report and executive summary can be downloaded through The R&A’s GC2030 portal www.randa. org/golf-course-2030-projects-biodiversity.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 57

L EADERSHIP

Patterson’s passion puts him on

a new track

Having spent all his career in Sydney, the past 18 months has seen Shaun Patterson take on the racecourse manager role at Moonee Valley in Melbourne as it embarks on the biggest redevelopment in its proud history.

027 is set to be a defining year for racecourse manager Shaun Patterson. It will see him notch up his 20th year in the racing industry and as he does so he will also lead one of Australia’s most famous tracks – Moonee Valley – into a bold new era. As this edition of Australian Turfgrass Management goes to print, turf won’t be far off from going down on the new-look Moonee Valley track which since last October has undergone a dramatic overhaul. Shortly after super mare Via Sistina completed back-toback WS Cox Plate wins, the track was ripped up as works got underway on the major redevelopment of the Moonee Valley precinct. Central to the works has been the construction of a new Evergreen track. The track has been reconfigured, meaning the Valley’s famously short 173-metre long home straight is no longer, replaced instead by a new 317m home straight which has been 58

CAREER – SHAUN PATTERSON 2025 – present: Racecourse manager, Moonee Valley racecourse (Moonee Valley Racing Club) 2018 – 2025: Racecourse manager, Rosehill Gardens racecourse (Australian Turf Club) 2012 – 2018: Assistant racecourse manager, Rosehill Gardens racecourse 2011 – 2012: Groundsman, Rosehill Gardens racecourse 2007 – 2010: Sports turf apprentice, Rosehill Gardens racecourse shifted 90 degrees and is now on the northern side of the track. At 1702m in circumference and 30m wide, complete with new lighting so it can continue as Melbourne’s premier night racing venue, the new track will allow Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) to stage 35 race meetings each year, up from its current 23.

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

As Patterson’s fellow colleagues like to rib him, he’s arguably the busiest track manager in Melbourne currently without a track! Indeed, it has been an interesting 18 months since Patterson arrived at Moonee Valley having spent all of his career previously at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney, including the last seven as racecourse manager. It was last April when Patterson was confirmed by the MVRC as their new track manager, replacing long-time custodian Marty Synan who had departed in January. With a chance to be involved in the club’s historic redevelopment, it was the opportunity Patterson had been looking for to progress his career, so he uprooted his young family and made the trek to Melbourne. And he hasn’t looked back. Having navigated the old track through its final seven meets last year, Patterson has continued to play an integral role in the new track’s development and overseeing the new

Shaun Patterson started as Moonee Valley Racing Club’s new racecourse manager last April, joining ahead of the club’s historic redevelopment. The new track is set to return to racing in August 2027

surface which is being grown by Evergreen at its Pakenham farm. Ahead of the installation of the new kikuyu track and with the Melbourne Spring Carnival about to kick into full gear, we were fortunate to catch up with Patterson to look back on his turf career and get his thoughts on leadership and management… How did you end up in turf? Did you choose turf or did it choose you? I always knew I wanted to work outdoors. Growing up, I actually thought I would end up in the Defence Force and I had started going through the enlistment process. Unfortunately, the process was taking quite a long time, so I reached a point where I needed to pivot and look at another career path. I had always enjoyed working outdoors, getting my hands dirty and doing something practical, so I decided I would give a trade in horticulture a go. I applied for an apprenticeship with the Sydney Turf Club, thinking I was going for a landscaping apprenticeship. When I arrived for the interview, I quickly realised there had been some miscommunication. The interviewer explained

PHOTO: BRETT ROBINSON

that the position was actually a greenkeeping apprenticeship! At the time, I didn’t really know what greenkeeping involved, but he sold me on the opportunity and the industry. I decided to give it a go and that unexpected opportunity ended up being the start of my career in turf and racecourse management. Tell us about your journey and how you have come to be racecourse manager at Moonee Valley Racing Club. I’ve been very fortunate throughout my career to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the pioneers of the racing industry, including Lindsay Murphy and Nevesh Ramdhani. Early on, they could see that I was keen to learn and that I took a lot of pride in working hard. I tried to take every opportunity they gave me and, in return, they involved me in areas well beyond what they necessarily had to. That exposure kept motivating me to learn more, take on greater responsibility and understand not just turf management but the broader racing operation. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to experience some significant moments in Australian racing. I worked through the merger of racing clubs (Sydney Turf Club merged with the Australian Jockey Club in 2011 to form the Australian Turf Club), experienced the challenges the industry faced through Equine Influenza and COVID and witnessed an extraordinary period in racing through the rise of champion trainer Chris Waller and Winx. Each of those experiences taught me something different – about turf, racing, leadership, resilience and the importance of being adaptable when circumstances change. Over time, I continued to take on more responsibility and challenge myself and that journey ultimately led to the opportunity to become racecourse manager at Moonee

Valley Racing Club. For me, it has been a progression built on hard work, taking opportunities when they came and continuing to learn from the people and experiences around me. What is at the top of your priority list as a racecourse manager? I want to ensure that every stakeholder who steps onto our racing surface leaves it in the same condition they arrived. That will always be number one. The second priority is to provide the best, most consistent and fairest racing surface possible. That is ultimately what we are here to deliver and there is a huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to achieve that. Underpinning all of that is my team. I want every team member to be part of the journey from start to finish and to understand the importance of what we do and the contribution we make to the broader racing industry. It can be a tough and sometimes thankless job because so much of what we do happens in the background. The vision I try to promote within the team is that even though we may only play a small part, we are contributing to racing history and the stories that come from it. When you see the happiness of an owner, trainer, strapper or even a punter after a great moment on the track, it makes all the hard work worthwhile. There is a real sense of pride in knowing that our team helped make that moment possible. For me, one of the biggest keys to success in turf management is observation. You can have all the technology, data and equipment available, but you still need people who understand the surface, notice when something changes and are constantly looking, questioning and learning. I try to instil that in every member of the team – observe everything, because the smallest detail can make the biggest difference.

Up until his appointment to Moonee Valley, Patterson had spent his entire career at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 59

L EADERSHIP What size team do you have at Moonee Valley? We currently operate with what would be considered a fairly lean team for a metropolitan racecourse, with nine team members across ‘Tracks and Gardens’. Looking ahead to the new Moonee Valley, we will need to review that structure and increase our resources. The redeveloped racecourse will bring a significantly larger and more diverse greenscape, alongside the maintenance requirements of the racing surface and the future activation of the infield for sporting and other events. It will be a very different operation from what we manage today, so our team structure will need to evolve with the venue. The focus will be on having the right number of people, but just as importantly, developing the right mix of skills to maintain the racing surface and broader precinct to the standard expected of Moonee Valley. What does great leadership mean to you? Great leadership to me is about trust, consistency and giving people the opportunity to grow. I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to have leaders who saw something in me, gave me opportunities and allowed me to be involved in things that probably sat outside my role at the time. That had a huge impact on my career and it’s something I try to pass on to my own team. I believe a good leader needs to set clear expectations and hold people accountable, but also be prepared to listen, support and get their hands dirty alongside the team when required. You can’t ask people to do something you wouldn’t be prepared to do yourself. Most importantly, leadership is about bringing people on the journey. I want my team to understand not only what we are doing, but why we are doing it and the importance of their individual contribution. For me, success as a leader isn’t just measured by the racing surface we produce. It’s also seeing people

racecourse managers, trainers, jockeys and particularly my own team. Everyone sees things from a different perspective and I think one of the most important things you can do in this industry is never assume you know everything. You should always be prepared to listen, learn and evolve.

Patterson (left) with Moonee Valley leading hand Sam Tankard during a trip to PGG Wrightson Turf in NZ

within the team develop, take ownership, challenge themselves and eventually become leaders in their own right. Who has influenced your career and how? I’ve been fortunate to have a number of people influence my career, but as mentioned earlier Lindsay Murphy and Nevesh Ramdhani would certainly be two of the biggest. What influenced me most was not just their knowledge of turf, but the way they approached racing, their standards and their ability to read and understand a racing surface. They taught me that there is no substitute for observation, experience and being prepared to continually learn. I’ve tried to carry those lessons throughout my own career and into how I lead today. If I see someone in my team who is hungry to learn and prepared to put in the work, I want to give them the same opportunities that were given to me. I’ve also learnt a lot from the people around me throughout racing – other

During his time in the industry Patterson has been fortunate to experience some significant moments in Australian racing, among them the rise of champion trainer Chris Waller (pictured right) and the mighty Winx. Pictured left is Patterson with 2024 Golden Eagle winner Lake Forest at Rosehill Gardens

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

What is the biggest mistake you have made and what did you learn from it? The list is probably too long to write down, particularly from my years on the tools! In turf management, you are constantly making decisions based on weather, irrigation, plant health and how you expect a surface to respond and you don’t always get every decision right. One that sticks with me was leading into a major carnival meeting. The forecast was around 30 degrees and the night before I went through the usual process of assessing the track and deciding how much irrigation it needed. I probably went back and forth on the decision too much and eventually applied what I thought was enough water to get the surface through the following day without drying out excessively. What I hadn’t accounted for enough, however, was the humidity. The next day the moisture didn’t move through the profile as I expected and the track presented wetter than I wanted. The media coverage quickly became about the track being overwatered. I had overthought the decision and got it wrong. What I took from that experience was to trust the process, trust your observations and be decisive. You need to use the data and forecasts available to you, but ultimately you have to know your surface and back your judgement. It also taught me about accountability. When you make hundreds of decisions behind the scenes, nobody notices the ones you get right. When you get one wrong on a major race day, everyone has an opinion. You have to be prepared to own it, learn from it and be better the next time. What do you feel your biggest career achievement is and why? I genuinely feel that every day I get to do something I love is an achievement in itself. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to build a career in an industry that I’m passionate about. But if I had to choose my biggest achievement, it would be the people I’ve had the opportunity to work with and help develop along the way. I’ve been lucky to work with a number of sports turf managers who have gone on to manage their own racecourses and build successful careers of their own. Seeing them develop from young people learning the industry into highly capable turf managers is something I’m extremely proud of.

I can say with complete confidence that some of them have become better turf managers than I’ll ever be – and I see that as an achievement, not a threat. As a leader, you should want the people around you to become better than you. The best part is that many of those people who started out as members of my team have ultimately become my peers and some of my best mates. We still call each other, share ideas, ask for advice and support each other regardless of the situation. For me, that is probably the most rewarding part of my career. Racing surfaces and race meetings come and go, but seeing good people develop, succeed and then help the next generation is something that lasts. What do you feel are some of the biggest challenges facing the turf industry at the moment? I think there are two major challenges at the moment and in many ways they are connected. The first is attracting and retaining young people. We are seeing fewer people coming into turf management and with the current cost-of-living pressures asking someone to commit to an apprenticeship and the lifestyle that comes with our industry – early mornings, weekends, long hours and working in all conditions – is increasingly difficult.

Patterson with wife Jen and kids Flynn (5) and Liam (8)

There was once a real value placed on learning a trade and building your career from the ground up. I think as an industry we need to do a better job of showing young people where an apprenticeship can actually take them. There needs to be clearer career progression, better development opportunities and more exposure to the technology, science, management and leadership that modern turf management now involves. The second challenge is the level of scrutiny and pressure placed on turf managers. In racing particularly, decisions

around track preparation can be heavily analysed by participants, media and social media. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but sometimes the personal nature and intensity of that criticism can have a significant impact on the people doing the job. When you combine that pressure with the hours and commitment the industry requires, I can understand why some young people look at it and question whether they want that responsibility. I think we need to be better as an industry at supporting our people, promoting what is great about the profession and creating genuine pathways for advancement. We also need experienced turf managers to invest time in the next generation – give them opportunities, expose them to decision-making and allow them to make mistakes and learn. If we want good people to stay in our industry, we need to show them that there is a future in it and that the industry will support them when they take on greater responsibility. How do you juggle the pressures of work, family/personal life and looking after yourself? I’m not sure I’ve completely mastered that one yet! Racecourse management isn’t really a job you completely switch off from. The weather doesn’t know what day of the week it is and when you’re

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14/11/20252026 5:02 pm SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 61

L EADERSHIP

The new Moonee Valley track (pictured right under construction), is being reconfigured, meaning the Valley’s famously short 173-metre long home straight (left) is no longer

responsible for a racing surface there is always something in the back of your mind – particularly leading into a meeting. I think over time I’ve become better at understanding that you can’t do everything yourself. Having good people around you, trusting your team and allowing them to take ownership is really important. It not only helps you personally, but it also gives the people around you the opportunity to develop. Family and the people outside of work are also incredibly important. They are often the ones who make the sacrifices alongside you when you’re working early mornings, weekends, long days and dealing with the pressures of the job. Making sure you recognise and appreciate that is something I think we can all probably do better. For myself, I enjoy getting outdoors and switching off when I can. I think the biggest lesson for me has been recognising that you need some separation from the job. You’re no good to your team or your family if you’re constantly carrying everything with you. It’s definitely still a work in progress, but I think that’s probably the reality for a lot of turfies. What is a job outside the turf industry you have had and what did you learn from it? I suppose pursuing a career in the Defence Force early in my working life, and going through that process, put me in contact with some pretty impactful people. Although I ultimately went in a different direction, there

were two lessons from that experience that have stayed with me and shaped the way I approach my working life. The first – don’t spend your energy focusing on the problem; spend it finding the solution and then learn from what happened. Problems are always going to come up, particularly in our industry. What matters is how you respond to them, what you learn and what you do differently next time. The second – recognise that there is always someone who knows more than you about something. It could be one of my groundsmen who has been working in the industry far longer than I have, or someone with a completely different background or skill set. I’d be foolish not to listen to their experience and learn from it. I think that has shaped the way I lead today. Having a title doesn’t mean you have all the answers. Good leadership is about surrounding yourself with good people, listening to them and creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing. You never stop learning and sometimes the most valuable lesson comes from the person standing beside you. What do you do for fun? I love the outdoors. For me, there’s nothing better than getting away from the concrete jungle and heading bush whenever I get the opportunity. Whether it’s camping, exploring or just spending time outdoors, I find it really helps me switch off.

Mentally, it grounds me, clears my head and keeps me fresh. Given that so much of my working life is about constantly observing, planning and thinking about what comes next, getting away from everything for a while is probably my best way of resetting. What is something no one in the turf industry would know about you? Probably that, despite how much I love racing, I have no interest in having a punt! I love the history of racing, the people, the stories and everything that goes on behind the scenes, but when it comes to the form, I’m hopeless. We could be preparing the track for a Group 1 and I’d probably have no idea who was actually running! There have been plenty of times when I’ve been asked during a media interview for a tip for the day and I’ve had to quickly ask one of the team beforehand who I should pick! My focus has always been on preparing the best and fairest surface possible. I’ll leave picking the winners to someone else. Finally, any advice for younger staff in the turf industry looking for their next opportunity or building their careers? Take every opportunity that comes your way, work hard and never stop learning. Be curious, ask questions and, most importantly, observe. Don’t just understand what you’re doing, understand why you’re doing it. Listen to the people around you, regardless of their position. There will always be someone with more experience or a different perspective you can learn from. You’ll make mistakes – own them, focus on the solution, learn from them and move on. Most importantly, though, enjoy the journey. I thought I was applying for a landscaping apprenticeship and somehow ended up managing a major metropolitan racecourse, so you never know where an opportunity might take you. The new 1702m long x 30m wide Evergreen track will allow Moonee Valley Racing Club to stage up to 35 race meetings each year, up from its current 23

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

ASTMA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM The ASTMA Certification Program aims to formally recognise the skills of its members and the critical role they play in the sports and recreation industry. We congratulate the following members who have achieved certification and can proudly use the ‘Certified Sports Turf Manager’ designation after their name... Tim Allen The National Golf, Belgium Dean Bailey Rosanna GC, Vic Shane Baker Mosman Park GC, WA Brett Balloch Anglesea GC, Vic Ed Barraclough Cardinia Beaconhills GC, Vic Brenden Benad (Manly GC, NSW) Nathan Bennett The Royal Adelaide GC, SA John Berthon St Georges Basin CC, NSW Justin Bertovic Burwood Council, NSW Shane Bisseker Tablelands Council, Qld Leon Blacker (Northbridge GC, NSW) Robert Bloom Fernland, Qld Andrew Boyle GTS, Vic Justin Bradbury Camden GC, NSW Nathan Bradbury Nuturf, NSW Harry Brennan Dubbo City Council, NSW Brendan Brown Clifton Springs GC, Vic Fraser Brown Lake Karrinyup CC, WA Hamish Buckingham Metropolitan GC, Vic Chris Burgess Yarrawonga Mulwala GC, Vic Greg Burgess K&B Adams, Vic Jason Bushell Rowes Bay GC, Qld Aaron Cachia Toronto CC, NSW Malcolm Caddies Kai Tak, Hong Kong Brad Carey City of Boroondara, Vic Patrick Casey Royal Perth GC, WA David Cassidy The Cut, WA Brian Cattell Wagga Wagga CC, NSW Peter Cawsey Eastwood GC, Vic Paul Chalmers Tamworth JC, NSW Brenton Clarke Settler’s Run G&CC, Vic Jeremy Collier Mars Stadium, Vic Dan Cook GTS, NSW Lincoln Coombes K&B Adams, Qld Phillip Cooper GTS, NSW Dion Cope Redland Bay GC, Qld Mick Cornish Cazaly’s Stadium, Qld Shaun Cross Toro Australia, NSW George Crowe Sutherland Shire, NSW Joshua Cunningham All Outside, NSW Rowan Daymond The Grange GC, SA Luke Diserens Northbridge GC, NSW Nicholas Douglas Sandhurst Club, Vic John Downes Regional Turf and Hort, Qld Mark Doyle Hume City Council, Vic Cameron Dunn Woolooware GC, NSW Peter Dunn Federal GC, ACT Tim Fankhauser ASTMA, Vic Chris Fiadino Pymble GC, NSW Peter Fitzgerald Belmont G&BC, NSW Aaron Fluke Castle Hill CC, NSW Matthew Foenander Keysborough GC, Vic Jason Foster Hervey Bay GC, Qld Adam Fry Glenelg GC, SA Jake Gibbs Elanora GC, NSW Charlie Giffard Pacific GC, Qld

Cameron Hall City of Glen Eira, Vic Gareth Hammond Terrey Hills GC, NSW Brendan Hansard Kew CC, NSW Dean Hardman Ventrac Australia, Qld Nick Harris Wentworth Club, UK Marcus Hartup Brisbane GC, Qld Mitch Hayes Living Turf, Qld Martyn Hedley Landscape Solutions, Qld Matthew Heeps Evergreen Turf, Vic Luke Helm Meadowbrook GC, Qld Mark Hooker Royal Auckland & Grange GC Tim Hoskinson NQ Turf Specialists, Qld Celia Hourigan ACT Government, ACT Ian Howell Bonnie Doon GC, NSW Rhys Hunichen Atlas Golf Services Vic Nick Jeffrey St Joseph’s College, Qld Mark Jennings Racing Victoria, Vic Steven Johnson Al Mouj Golf, Oman Daimon Jones Living Turf, SA Nick Kinley Wembley GC, WA Lance Knox Busselton GC, WA Steve Lalor GTS, Qld Nick Launer Keysborough GC, Vic Ben Lavender Newington College, NSW Jason Lavender Beenleigh RSL & GC, Qld Matt Legge Brookwater G&CC, Qld Dean Lenertz K&B Adams, NSW Dean Lewis Thurgoona CC, NSW Josh Leyland Box Hill GC, Vic Nathan Lindsay Marrickville GSCC, NSW Peter Lonergan CTHGC, NSW Andrew Lothian Sanctuary Cove, Qld Ben Lucas Tocumwal GC, NSW Toby Lumsden STRI Australia Bruce Macphee ASTMA, Vic Stephen Mallyon Never Stop Water, NSW Garry McClymont Twin Waters GC, Qld Nick McClymont Twin Waters GC, Qld Mick McCombe Maroochy River GC, Qld Christopher McIvor Helensvale GC, Qld Paul McLean Maroochy River GC, Qld Peter McNamara Ashgrove GC, Qld Brett Merrell Merrell Golf Consultancy Daniel Metcalfe Beverley Park GC, NSW Kieran Meurant North Sydney Oval, NSW Jack Micans GTS, NSW Ben Mills BASF, NSW Craig Molloy Barwon Heads GC, Vic Colin Morrison AIMU P/L, Vic Damien Murrell Merewether GC, NSW James Newell Magenta Shores G&CC, NSW Kelvin Nicholson Global Turf Luke Nowlan Oxley GC, Qld Matthew Oliver Suncorp Stadium, Qld Shaun Page Southern GC, Vic Luke Partridge Atlas Golf Services, SA

Mick Pascoe Trump Int’l Malaysia Ben Payne Peninsula-Kingswood CGC, Vic Michael Pearce RACV Torquay GC, Vic Stephen Pellatt Blackwood GC, SA Jeff Powell Ballarat GC, Vic Keegan Powell Country Club Tasmania Luke Primus Deakin University, Vic Shaun Pritchard PEGS, Vic Shaun Probert St. George’s Basin, NSW Greg Puckeridge Turf & Landscape, Qld Peter Rasmussen STRI, Hong Kong Scott Reid TasTAFE Lachlan Ridgewell Blacktown ISP, NSW Marcus Saddington Greenlife Group, Vic Brett Saggus BRG Legend Hill, Vietnam Wesley Saunders Dreamland GC, Azerbaijan Robert Savedra Wesley College, Vic Cameron Smith Sanctuary Cove G&CC, Qld Gary Smith Wodonga TAFE, NSW Jacob Smith The Coast GC, NSW Thomas Smith Waterford Valley, Vic Mathew Soles The Toolbox Team, NSW Liam Somers Whaleback GC, WA Clinton Southorn Troon International John Spraggs Royal Wellington GC, NZ Daniel Stack Windaroo Lakes GC, Qld James Stewart Green Acres GC, Vic David Sutherland The Ridge GC, NSW Lee Sutherland St Michael’s GC, NSW Shay Tasker Carnarvon GC, NSW Aaron Taylor Cronulla GC, NSW Heath Taylor Blacktown ISP, NSW Shaun Taylor Warragul CC, Vic Luke Telford James Thomas Bayview GC, NSW David Thomson Bermagui CC, NSW Colin Thorsborne Parkwood Village, Qld Ben Tilley Headland GC, Qld Jason Vickery Fox Private, Vic Dallas Voss Grass Up, Vic Michael Vozzo Fertool, Vic Bobby Wallace Barwon Heads GC Earl Warmington Newcastle GC, NSW Tim Warren Glenelg GC, SA Trent Webber Ballina G&SC, NSW Matthew West Kew GC, Vic Scott West Cheltenham GC, Vic Hayden Westwood The Grange GC, NSW Dayne Whalan City of Melville, WA Shannon White Baileys Fertilisers, WA Joshua Willard Oaks Cypress Lakes, NSW Issac Wojewodka Camden GC, NSW Simon Wood Sth Metropolitan TAFE, WA Paul Wright City of Canning, WA Tim Wright K&B Adams, Vic Rob Young Liverpool GC, NSW

For more information on the ASTMA Certification Program visit www.astma.com.au

AROUND THE TRADE

SYNGENTA UPDATES INTERACTIVE TURF FUNGICIDE GUIDE

STMA Gold Partner Syngenta has recently updated its interactive Turf Fungicide Guide to assist superintendents and sports turf managers navigate their range and make more informed product and rotation decisions. Choosing the right fungicide program for turf disease management can be complex, but the downloadable guide provides an interactive resource that includes a clear decision-tree matrix covering common turf diseases. Recently updated to include the latest recommendations, for each disease the guide identifies the recommended first-choice fungicide, an ideal rotation partner and other Syngenta fungicide options that may support disease-management programs. Developed using product activity groups and disease efficacy data, the guide provides a practical reference for planning effective fungicide rotations. “We approached this by looking at the common turf diseases and which of our products controlled these diseases,” explains Michael Bradbery, Technical Manager, Syngenta Professional Solutions. “We then looked at activity groups of the fungicides as well as the efficacy data for each disease and in so doing developed the decision-tree matrix.” Beyond product selection, the guide includes information on key turf diseases, including symptoms, conditions that favour disease development and practical management tips. The interactive PDF also connects users directly to relevant product pages, where they can access product information, label and Safety Data Sheet (SDS) documents, plus key product features and benefits. The Syngenta Turf Fungicide Guide can be downloaded via www.syngentaturf.com.au.

MAXTIMA FUNGICIDE LABEL EXTENSION ASTMA Bronze Partner BASF announced in September the expansion of its Maxtima fungicide label, providing broader disease management options and greater flexibility as turf managers prepare for the challenges of spring and summer and plan preventative fungicide programs. Maxtima has developed a reputation among turf professionals for its strong preventative performance and application flexibility. With the expanded label, turf managers now have even more opportunities to incorporate Maxtima into their disease management programs. The label extension builds on Maxtima’s original disease spectrum, adding six further disease claims alongside a new use rate for dollar spot. The extended label transforms 64

Syngenta’s updated Turf Fungicide Guide provides an interactive resource for sports turf managers

Maxtima from a strong broad-spectrum DMI into one of the most comprehensive Group 3 fungicide options available to Australian sports turf managers. Originally labelled for the control of anthracnose, brown patch, large patch, brown ring patch, dollar spot, spring dead spot, takeall patch and take-all root rot, the extended label now includes Curvularia spp., fairy ring, Helminthosporium complex, Magnaporthiopsis spp., rust and summer decline (Wongia griffinii), in addition to the new use rate for dollar spot (now 0.65L-1.25L/ha). Historically, many turf managers have approached traditional Group 3 fungicides cautiously during periods of heat stress or active growth. Conventional DMI molecules can often contribute to unwanted plant growth regulation effects, turf thinning or phytotoxicity when conditions become stressful. As a result, many turf managers reduce or avoid DMI use during parts of the year, creating gaps in resistance management programs. Maxtima is powered by Revysol, the world’s first isopropanol-azole molecular structure, representing the first major advancement within the DMI class in decades. This unique molecular flexibility allows the active ingredient in Maxtima (400g/L mefentrifluconazole) to adopt different

conformations when binding to fungal target sites, improving binding strength and performance compared with traditional DMI chemistries. Because the active ingredient is rapidly absorbed and retained within the leaf rather than accumulating at leaf tips, Maxtima delivers disease control without the turf safety limitations commonly associated with traditional DMI chemistries. This ability to access Group 3 chemistry for any turf at any temperature is one of the most important advantages of the product. Rather than sidelining DMIs during periods of high turf sensitivity, turf managers can continue to incorporate Group 3 chemistry into disease management programs when needed, maintaining diversity of modes of action and helping to manage resistance pressure on other fungicide groups. Maxtima is already recognised for its proven performance against Ectotrophic RootInfecting (ERI) diseases and other difficult pathogens. The expanded label builds on this established strength by adding important new claims for Magnaporthiopsis spp. and summer decline, diseases for which registered management options remain limited. These additions give turf managers greater flexibility to incorporate Maxtima into preventative ERI programs before visible symptoms develop, helping protect turf quality while broadening access to Group 3 chemistry. Maxtima can also be rotated with complementary modes of action, including BASF’s Group 7 fungicide Xzemplar. For more information on BASF’s Maxtima fungicide visit https://turf-solutions.basf. com.au/products/maxtima.

NEW TRICURE GRANULAR Maxtima’s label extension builds on its original disease spectrum, adding six further disease claims alongside a new use rate for dollar spot

AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 28.5

ASTMA Silver Partner Living Turf has introduced TriCure Granular, bringing the proven moisture-management benefits of TriCure into a convenient flexible granular

format for broadacre or targeted applications. Like the already available TriCure AD liquid, TriCure Granular is designed to help prevent and treat hydrophobic soil conditions and localised dry spot by improving water infiltration, penetration and distribution through the soil profile. The key difference is application flexibility. The granular formulation provides an easy way to deliver the same TriCure technology to targeted areas where spraying may be less practical. Applied by hand or through an appropriate spreader, TriCure Granular is particularly suited to slopes, bunker surrounds, approaches, greens and localised dry spots. Once irrigated, the granular carrier breaks down and releases the surfactant into the soil, helping create more uniform moisture through the rootzone. TriCure Granular is now available through Living Turf and turf managers are encouraged to speak with their local rep or visit www.livingturf.com.au.

PACE TURF EXPANDS ACCESS For more than three decades, PACE Turf has been trusted by golf course superintendents worldwide to help them make decisions on the course. Now a newly redesigned website – paceturf.org – puts the full suite of PACE Turf’s tools at superintendents’ fingertips. Founded in 1988 by Dr. Larry Stowell and Dr. Wendy Gelernter, PACE Turf is a membership-based turfgrass science resource. Membership includes the frameworks PACE Turf developed and continues to refine, such as Minimum Levels for Sustainable Nutrition (MLSN) soil guidelines, turfgrass growth potential model, OM246 organic matter testing by depth, clipping volume (ClipVol) measurement and site-specific climate appraisals. Members receive weekly updates, weather and climate reports, and management guidelines written by scientists with deep experience across every aspect of turfgrass management. The redesigned site includes:

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS TORO IRRIGATION LIVING TURF APPOINTS ROLE FOR SCOTT IRRIGATION EXPERT SIMMONDS ASTMA Platinum Partner Toro Australia has appointed Travis Scott (pictured) to the role of Irrigation Area Sales Manager for Victoria and Tasmania. Scott brings more than 25 years’ experience in the turf management industry and arrives at the company after serving as a branch manager for Brandt in Melbourne’s east. Prior to that, Scott was course superintendent at Riversdale Golf Club where he worked with a range of irrigation systems, including the installation of the club’s Toro Lynx system. His experience as a Toro customer throughout his career also made the opportunity to join Toro a natural fit. Having worked on the customer side of the industry, Scott understands the demands faced by turf managers and the important role irrigation plays in maintaining quality playing surfaces and managing water effectively. Technology is one area he sees continuing to shape the future of irrigation, giving turf managers greater control and access to data to support informed decisions. “Having been a Toro customer in my time as a turf manager, I’ve developed great relationships with Toro employees throughout my career,” says Scott. “I saw it as a great opportunity to join a successful company and a market leader in the industry that is always looking to provide great outcomes for customers.” Scott began his new role in midSeptember and can be contacted via email travis.scott@toro.com.

ASTMA Silver Partner Living Turf has appointed Sheldon Simmonds (pictured) as Queensland Irrigation Specialist, strengthening the company’s irrigation expertise and support for turf managers across the state. Simmonds brings three decades of industry experience spanning hands-on fieldwork, installation, system specification, sales and service and arrives at Living Turf after more than 11 years with Toro Australia. Beginning his career in Toowoomba in 1996, Simmonds worked in bowls and golf before spending seven years in Turf Irrigation Services. He later progressed into regional management and national sales and specification roles, supporting some of Australia’s leading golf courses, racing organisations and educational institutions. In his new role, Simmonds will further strengthen the partnership between Living Turf and Rain Bird, connecting Queensland turf facilities with specialist irrigation advice, technology and practical support. Working alongside Living Turf’s agronomists, he will help deliver a more connected service across irrigation, agronomic advice and turf management products. “I’ve known Sheldon for over 30 years and I couldn’t be happier to welcome him to Living Turf,” says CEO Ashley Neuendorf. “Sheldon has worked across every level of the irrigation industry – from being on the tools to specifying systems at a national level. He is someone people know and trust.”

A rebuilt weather page and member climate appraisals, now using speciesspecific standard nitrogen (N) rates; l A searchable field imagery library of more than 1800 photographs, from anthracnose to zoysia; l Enhanced search across site references, updates, guidelines and images; and l Weather alerts and update emails rebuilt from the ground up. “It’s been a pleasure working on this project over the past few months with Maggie Reiter, our CTO, who did the hard work of building the new service,” says Dr Micah Woods, chief executive of PACE Turf. “The new website has transformed how we share our resources and tools that turf managers around the world can use every day. The new site is now live and there will be additional features rolled out in the coming months.” l

Simmonds will also support dealers and contractors, with a practical focus on resolving irrigation issues and keeping customers’ existing systems operating, regardless of brand. Long-standing relationships with the Living Turf team and its collaborative approach were central to his decision to join the business. Simmonds began with Living Turf on 28 September and is based in Brisbane. Queensland customers can contact him on 0407 100 508 or ssimmonds@livingturf.com.

PENGILLY JOINS NUTURF ASTMA Silver Partner Nuturf made a key announcement in late September with Alec Pengilly (pictured) joining the company as Territory Manager for WA. The Perth-based sports turf manager joins Nuturf from Green By Nature, where he was most recently superintendent of Seaview Golf Club. Pengilly has a strong history in sports turf management, spending nearly four years as head turf manager at HBF Park (Perth Rectangular Stadium) which hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup, HSBC Sevens rugby, Socceroos and Matildas and many concerts during his tenure. He has also been a turf manager at Lake Karrinyup Country Club and the Western Australian Cricket Association. “Alec is looking forward to bringing his passion and expert knowledge to support turf professionals across Western Australia, so please join us in welcoming Alec to the Nuturf team,” Nuturf said on its social media pages. Pengilly can be contacted via email alec.pengilly@nuturf.com.au. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026

AS SOCIATION REPORTS/NEWS

QSTMA

PHOTOS: DANIEL NEUCOM PHOTOGRAPHY

he Queensland Sports Turf Managers Association (QSTMA) honoured its outstanding achievers over the past 12 months at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards held in Brisbane in October. At a gala dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, the QSTMA handed out five awards on the night as the state’s thriving golf industry converged to celebrate clubs, facilities, staff, players, coaches and volunteers. Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club’s Cameron Smith (CSTM) was awarded the Superintendents Achievement Award, presented by Water Wise Consulting, for his outstanding achievements across the past 12 months. Smith joined the Gold Coast-based club in 2024 after a distinguished career as super at Bonnie Doon in Sydney and previous stints at New Zealand, UAE and Mexican courses and has well and truly put his stamp on the 36-hole facility since arriving. Earlier this year the Palms course successfully hosted the 2026 Australian WPGA Championship to great acclaim after the forced cancellation of the 2025 tournament due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred. “Receiving the Superintendent Recognition Award means a great deal to me, particularly as it is my first individual award within the turf management industry,” says Smith. “To be recognised by our industry is incredibly rewarding and demonstrates that what we have built at Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club is being recognised beyond our membership and clientele. “However, I see this as much more than a personal achievement. It is recognition of the dedication and commitment of our entire team and I certainly would not have received it without their support. “Most importantly, I owe an enormous amount to my family. The life of a superintendent requires significant commitment, with early mornings, late nights, missed family events and the pressures of the role that, despite your best efforts, sometimes follow you home. Having the support and understanding of my family throughout those times has allowed me to continue giving my best to the profession, our team and the club. This award may carry my name, but the achievement belongs to all of us.” Former course superintendent Justin Kelly was another to be honoured on the evening with the coveted Superintendents Industry Recognition Award, presented by Greenway Turf Solutions, for his nearly four decades of excellence in golf course management. Kelly is currently employed at Nuturf as Territory Manager & Equipment Specialist in Brisbane but has worked across every facet of

Pictured top, Sanctuary Cove’s Cameron Smith (right) accepts the Superintendents Achievement Award from Water Wise Consulting’s Peter Brueck. Pictured above left, Justin Kelly received the Superintendents Industry Recognition Award, while Jason Lavender from Beenleigh RSL & Golf Club (above right) won the Environmental and Safety Achievement Award

Queensland’s sports turf industry, including as a greenkeeper and golf course superintendent, as well as working on sports turf renovation projects and now in product and equipment sales. Kelly also served four years on the executive committee of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Queensland (now QSTMA following the recent merger with STA Queensland). Logan City, Riverlakes, Gainsborough Greens and Parkwood golf clubs are just some of the other clubs and employers Kelly has been involved with over the journey. Beenleigh RSL & Golf Club superintendent Jason Lavender (CSTM) was awarded the Environmental and Safety Achievement Award, presented by Husqvarna, for his outstanding environmental work at the City of Logan club. Lavender is no stranger to awards for environmental sustainability across a

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distinguished career having won the coveted ASTMA Claude Crockford Sustainability & Environmental Award at the 2018 conference in Wellington, NZ when he was superintendent at Riverlakes Golf Club. RACV Royal Pines Resort’s Brent Johnston was bestowed the Assistant Superintendents Recognition Award for his work at the highly-popular Gold Coast course which presents three par-72 combination layouts, including a championship golf course which previously hosted the Australian PGA Championship. Johnston started his career as an apprentice greenkeeper at Stonecutters Ridge in Sydney working for Flemming Golf in 2010 before finishing it at Dunheved Golf Club. After a brief nine-month period out of the industry, he returned as a senior greenkeeper at Castle Hill Country Club, rising to 3IC there

and completing his Diploma before heading to Queensland in 2022 after being appointed assistant superintendent at Royal Pines. Oxley Golf Club co-superintendent Dan Spary took out the Turf Apprentice of the Year Award, presented by Toro. Spary works alongside Luke Nowlan at the Brisbane-based course. Elsewhere on the night, Keperra Country Golf Club, home of QSTMA president and superintendent Keith Johnson, was named the Most Outstanding Queensland Club, Facility or Place to Play (Metropolitan), while Maleny Golf Club on the Sunshine Coast took out the equivalent regional award. The QSTMA congratulates all award winners.

QSTMA COMMITTEE

RACV Royal Pines’ Brent Johnston (left) won the Assistant Superintendents Recognition Award, while Oxley Golf Club’s co-superintendent Dan Spary (right) won the Turf Apprentice of the Year Award

GABBA’S UNIQUE WICKET CHARACTERISTICS TO LIVE ON AT NEW BRISBANE STADIUM

PHOTO: STADIUMS QUEENSLAND

ith The Gabba set to be demolished after Brisbane hosts the 2032 Olympic Games, the venue and Stadiums Queensland is ensuring that its unique wicket profile will continue to live on in the soon-to-be-constructed Brisbane Stadium. No sooner had the Brisbane Lions secured back-to-back-to-back AFL Premierships and ahead of the new cricket season starting, The Gabba installed a single drop-in cricket wicket tray next to their existing in-situ wicket table in late September. Overseen by head curator Dave Sandurski and his expert grounds team, the new drop-in has been constructed with The Gabba’s existing soil and turf and will be grown in and managed with the view of then installing it at the new stadium following the 2032 Olympics. Following the conclusion of the Olympics, Brisbane Stadium will replace The Gabba as Brisbane’s main Australian rules football and cricket stadium. The Gabba will then be demolished to make way for redevelopment as a residential precinct after 131 years as a sporting stadium. The Gabba is currently one of few remaining international cricket venues in Australia to still have a traditional wicket block alongside the likes of the SCG and Hobart’s Bellerive Oval. The new wicket will be curated, monitored and eventually tested under professional cricket conditions by The Gabba crew until the 2032-33 summer of cricket, ensuring the unique characteristics of the stadium’s surface live on. It is expected that the new wicket will be used during the 2027-28 season for practice, intra-squad and domestic matches, before being tested under First Class conditions from 2028 onwards. Sandurski says retaining the characteristics of the famous wicket block is a priority for his

Overseen by head curator Dave Sandurski (left), The Gabba in Brisbane installed a single drop-in cricket wicket tray next to their existing in-situ wicket table in late September

team. It’s famous pace and bounce, combined with an intimidating Gabba atmosphere, are synonymous with Australian cricket summers and have been the downfall of many touring teams. Since first hosting a Test match in 1931, Australia has won 43 of 68 matches and lost just 10, making it one of the strongest home ground advantages in the world. “It’s important we get this right, so we’ve explored a range of wicket block practices and technologies at venues across Australia and New Zealand, including the critical elements like tray design, clay type and depth and turfing method,” says Sandurski “The new wicket will replicate both the dimensions of the existing wickets and the make-up, with the same clay base, soil and turf, so we’ll be looking to refine it over time to reproduce the same pace and bounce The Gabba is famous for.” One of the key reasons for the decision comes down to international cricket standards

required for new wickets. A traditional Test match quality surface needs at least three years curation which would render the Brisbane Stadium unable to host international cricket until the 2034-35 cricket season had it waited until it was built. Stadiums Queensland chief executive Todd Harris says there is nobody better placed than Sandurski, who is coming up to his ninth year in charge at the venue, to deliver the new drop-in wicket and ensure the Brisbane Stadium retains a piece of the famous Gabba deck. “(Dave) has curated world-class wicket infrastructure throughout his esteemed career, so these wickets will benefit from expert hands and tested under top competition conditions,” says Harris. “Transferring proven wickets between Test venues has never been done before, but ingenuity is needed now to ensure we don’t miss out on international cricket until 2035-36.” – Nick Creely SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 67

AS SOCIATION REPORTS/NEWS

VGCSA

ollowing a hugely successful Country Conference, I’m extremely pleased with the support shown by VGCSA members who attended or sent staff to the combined VGCSA and NSWGCSA event in Yarrawonga. It was an outstanding few days and both association committees will now review the event to determine if and when it might be repeated. Early feedback points to strong demand for another event of similar scale, with content specifically focused on golf course management. I can’t speak highly enough of the trade sponsors who backed the event – their support was fundamental to its success. And thanks to Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort for hosting the three-day event, with huge credit to superintendent Chris Burgess for presenting the course in such mighty fine condition, albeit at a genuinely challenging time of year to do so. And the hospitality team looked after us superbly – I doubt many of us left without loosening the belt a notch or two! I’d also like to acknowledge and extend our sincere thanks to VGCSA CEO Mary Napier and NSWGCSA marketing consultant Mandy Henry for the enormous effort they put into planning and running the event. It’s a great demonstration of what a few small associations can achieve when the right people are given the reins to make it happen. With the committee putting forward some initial ideas around speakers and topics, Nadeem Zreikat was a major player with us in the early planning phase and I thank him for the contacts and connections. From there, with a huge amount of work by Mary, Mandy (known affectionately as M&M) and the subcommittee, made up of several NSW and

Members of the VGCSA and NSWGCSA committees who helped to organise the inaugural Country Conference (from left) Pat Wilson, Mandy Henry, Nick Launer (back), Leon Hennessy (front), Adam Lamb, James Thomas, James Newell, Jeff Powell, Anthony Mills, Nico Douglas, Mary Napier, Tay Wilson and Geraldine O’Callaghan

Victorian committee members, the rest fell into place magnificently. Representing Victoria were Nico Douglas, Jeff Powell, Tay Wilson and myself and from NSW were Leon Hennessy and James Newell. Our 2026 meeting calendar wrapped up at Huntingdale Golf Club in early September with around 100 in attendance. VGCSA members were given a first-hand look at the significant redevelopment of the course which began in October 2023 across two stages, with the course fully reopening at the start of this year. The day kicked off with an early course walk led by host superintendent Michael Freeman, followed by a presentation from OCM Golf design associate Rob Swift and panel session involving Michael, Rob, Huntingdale assistant Damien McCartan and vegetation manager Kim Adair.

Over 100 members turned up for the final VGCSA meeting of 2026 at Huntingdale Golf Club in early September

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Rod and Michael explained how the project was driven in part by a desire to bring the course back into line following a number of alterations over the years which had seen the course drop in the rankings, while also addressing vegetation management across the property. Opening up and linking fairways and removing selected vegetation were important components, revealing some wonderful natural undulations across the site. We hope the spring period brings a welcome change in the weather for everyone and that things are well set up heading into the summer season.

ADAM LAMB PRESIDENT, VGCSA ON THE MOVE… BRENDAN BROWN: Stepped down as superintendent at Clifton Springs GC, Vic. BRENT HULL: December will herald the end of an era for Moruya Golf Club on the NSW South Coast, with long-serving course superintendent Brent Hull retiring after 32 years at the helm and 48 years in the industry. Hull, who has been an ASTMA member for more than 25 years, is set to finish up his tenure on 15 December 2026. KANE STANNARD: From superintendent Bexley Golf Club, NSW to superintendent McLeod Country Golf Club, Qld. TIM WATSON: After 16 years as superintendent at Club Tuross (formerly Tuross Head Golf Club) on the NSW South Coast, Watson is returning home in a sense this December to take on the superintendent role at Moruya Golf Club. Watson, who served his apprenticeship at Moruya and rose to be the assistant before departing to Tuross Head, will take over from the retiring Brent Hull (see above).

TMSA

PHOTOS: MARIE CUNNINGHAM/TMSA

urf Management South Australia held its fourth annual Turf Seminar and AGM on 18 August at Adelaide Oval, which once again proved to be a fantastic venue. With more than 220 attendees, it was our biggest Turf Seminar to date and a great reflection of the support and interest across our industry. Our sincere thanks go to guest speakers – Clint Adams (Waterpro), Rob Cooper (Living Turf), Todd Heinrich (Adelaide Oval SMA), Mark Johnson (Toro), Michael Robinson (STRI), Mark Unwin (ASTMA), Rob Welke (Water Pumping Institute) and Tim Warren (Glenelg Golf Club) – for sharing their knowledge and insights throughout the day. We would also like to acknowledge and thank our sponsors for their valued support, including those who attended the event and those who showcased machinery and equipment on the Village Green. This year, we restructured the program to give members more opportunities to engage with sponsors and industry colleagues throughout the day. The enhanced networking opportunities were well received and contributed to the event’s overall success. Having been re-elected as president and, together with the committee, we look forward to serving TMSA members over the next 12 months. The committee was set to meet in October to begin planning for the year ahead, including our 2027 Turf Seminar. The 2026/27 TMSA committee comprises: l President: Tim Warren (Glenelg GC) l Vice-president: Peter Foreman (Adelaide Oval SMA) l Secretary: Jordan Sherratt (Sth Lakes GC) l Treasurer: John Cranwell (City of Adelaide) l General Committee: Cameron Bourke (The Barossa Council), Barry Bryant (Mount Osmond GC), Justin Groves (City of Playford), David Meadows (Royal Adelaide GC) and Chris Sheath (Trinity College). Barry Bryant comes on board for the departing Damian Hough. September saw the Level 1 ASTMA Accredited Curators Course return to Adelaide Oval for the third time, with 21 participants benefitting from a full day of theory, practical learning and hands-on experience guided by Adelaide Oval SMA head curator Damian Hough and assistant curator Todd Heinrich. Participants can now complete the ASTMA online modules and assessments to attain their curator accreditation. A special thank you to Luke Harrison from MowMaster for partnering with TMSA again as the event sponsor. TMSA is now gearing up for the 2026 SA Golf Industry Awards which will be held on Friday 14 November at Morphettville Racecourse. The association will hand out two

Pictured from top down: There was a record turnout of over 220 for the TMSA Annual Seminar held at Adelaide Oval in August; TMSA was grateful for the excellent support of its sponsors for the annual Turf Seminar; 21 participants attended the latest cricket wicket accreditation training day held at Adelaide Oval in September

awards – the Excellence in Turf Management Award, sponsored by John Deere/Metropolitan Machinery, and the Golf Course Graduate of the Year, sponsored by Living Turf. Congratulations to Maxwell Clark, formerly of Kooyonga Golf Club, on receiving the Graduate award earlier this year as part of the ASTMA industry awards. We also wish the following four golf course superintendent nominees for the Excellence in Turf Management Award all the best – Leon Blacker (Thaxted Park GC), Michael Bohnsack (Victor Harbor GC), Ben Hallam (Tea Tree Gully GC) and Aaron Kelly (The Vines Golf Club of Reynella).

Looking ahead, our final gathering of 2027 will be the Christmas Bowls event on Thursday 10 December at the Adelaide Bowling Club. We appreciate this is a busy time of year, but a relaxed get-together before the Christmas and New Year period offers an excellent opportunity to meet members, sponsors and industry colleagues while reflecting on the year. As we head into the 2026/27 growing season, I wish everyone across the turf management industry in South Australia a productive and stress-free summer ahead.

TIM WARREN PRESIDENT, TMSA SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 69

AS SOCIATION REPORTS/NEWS

TSTMA

pring in Tasmania sees all hands-on deck for the renovation season. Sports turf crews all over the state are using the sunshine and longer days to rejuvenate their surfaces and prepare them for the growing season ahead. Spring has delivered some early warmer temperatures to most of the state, with Hobart notching consecutive days in the mid-20s in mid-October, even topping Brisbane’s daily maximum temperatures in the process. The break between the end of winter sporting fixtures and the beginning of summer sports gives turf managers the opportunity to renovate and add any amendments or repair worn areas in goal squares and other areas of high traffic in preparation for summer sports. Long hours and plenty of travel for the guys that operate renovation equipment is the norm for this time of year. Most facilities are also getting their wicket blocks relevelled and topped up with clay after heavy use from winter sports. A window of six weeks or so before the local cricket seasons

to begin as a follow up to the impressive course already on site. 7 Mile Beach also hosted its first major tournament since opening last December. The Tasmanian Amateur was held there from 8-11 October, with Callum Sharp (Avondale GC) and Amy Squires (Newcastle GC) prevailing after two rounds of stroke-play and four rounds of match-play. Country Club Tasmania is also putting the finishing touches on the redeveloped course that is scheduled to open in December. Macdonald bentgrass was being sodded on the last two greens as this edition was going to print. The crew have also been hydroseeding all other areas on the course with anticipation growing ahead of the opening. Construction of the Tasmanian Devils highperformance training centre has also begun, with heavy machinery doing the early stages of earthmoving in readiness for the team’s introduction to the AFL in 2028.

With renovation season underway, Tasmanian sports turf managers have taken advantage of some warmer than normal spring conditions

get under way allows just enough time to get a good coverage of perennial ryegrass on them before the early season cricket fixtures. In other news, the new course at 7 Mile Beach Golf Links has seen the pine tree plantation cleared in readiness for construction

SCOTT REID SECRETARY, TSTMA

WA PGA CHAMPIONSHIP EXTENDS ITS TENURE AT KALGOORLIE TO 2031

PHOTO: AUSTRALIAN GOLF MEDIA

n what is a huge show of confidence for the work that the crew at Kalgoorlie Golf Course continue to achieve year after year, ahead of the 2026 WA PGA Championship it was confirmed that the course will remain home to the tournament until 2031. The course has hosted the $250,000 tournament since 2012, with the signing of a new five-year extension making it one of the longest continuous host courses of any Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia event. Only Huntingdale Golf Club in Melbourne can lay claim to a longer record as former host of the Australian Masters. The new agreement was confirmed on the eve of this year’s tournament adding to a stellar year for the facility. Back in April, Kalgoorlie won four awards at the 2026 Western Australian Golf Industry Awards across multiple categories, including Regional Golf Course of the Year and Most Outstanding WA Club, Facility or Place to Play (Regional). Headed by superintendent Roger Innes, the Kalgoorlie crew works in one of the most challenging environments for golf course management in the country, with the expertise of the turf team one of the major reasons for the course’s ongoing strong reputation. “Kalgoorlie Golf Course and the Goldfields Golf Club are among our city’s greatest assets, and the work of the turf team to maintain the course to such a high standard, together with the support of club members, is a credit to everyone involved,” says City of KalgoorlieBoulder mayor Glenn Wilson.

Kalgoorlie Golf Course will continue to host the WA PGA Championship after signing a new five-year extension agreement until 2031

“We’re thrilled that Kalgoorlie-Boulder will continue to be home to the WA PGA Championship for a further five years.” The first of Western Australia’s two Challenger PGA Tour of Australia tournaments this side of Christmas, it was New South Welshman Justin Warren, playing on a tournament invite, who would emerge from a congested leaderboard on Sunday to win by

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two strokes and gain his tour card for three seasons. It was Innes’s third WA PGA and having navigated the past two tournaments successfully, he had a much younger crew on board this time around and was delighted with how they came together for the week. “We have a very new young team with most of the students and holiday visa staff moving on,” says Innes. “Only three members of our team of 12 had experienced a tournament before, but they really stepped up and showed great passion and enthusiasm to get the course into tournament shape. “After a mild winter with sporadic rainfall, we came into spring in really good shape with very little signs of dormancy on the couch fairways and rough. We had good definition between the rough mowed at 45mm and the fairways at 9mm. “Two weeks before the tournament we received 52mm of very welcome rain which greened up the course dramatically. We couldn’t have asked for better weather leading into the tournament with the exception of a storm which ripped through during round one and suspended play for an hour and uprooted signage, broke branches and left leaf and twig litter all over the course. “Greens were mowed at 2.8mm during the tournament and were rolled every morning with green speeds around 12 on the stimpmeter. The greens were pretty firm and with the swirling winds made scoring very difficult, with the winning score 11-under.” – Nick Creely and Brett Robinson

WA TURF APPRENTICES CONSTRUCT, TRIAL NEW TIFEAGLE GOLF GREEN

PHOTOS: JEFF AUSTEN

pprentices at South Metropolitan TAFE in Perth are getting the unique opportunity to be involved in trialling Western Australia’s first TifEagle golf green to see how the ultradwarf couchgrass variety will perform in the state’s unique climate. Over the past year, Certificate III in Sports Turf Management students have reconstructed the Murdoch Campus golf green under the guidance of lecturer and former superintendent Jeff Austen and local sports turf consultant Peter Ruscoe as part of their studies. “Our summers are pretty harsh here and managing bentgrass greens can be a big challenge,” explains Austen about the reasoning behind the trial green. “We want to see how TifEagle will go as an alternative and how it will fare in our winter which can be cool and wet, however, with our drying climate it may also provide water savings and prevent winter irrigation which has occurred on the bentgrasses in Perth this year. “We are the first turf facility in WA to grow TifEagle outside of a turf farm environment and for the purpose of a golf green. There are a few greens in Perth that are seashore paspalum, but no one has seriously tried couch as an alternative playing surface. “I planted Santa Ana greens when I was superintendent at El Caballo back in the 1990s (only seven holes) and they performed quite well and held their winter colour. The paspalum goes into a winter dormancy but can go a bit muddy and lose colour. “With my experiences with Santa Ana, I am extremely confident of how the TifEagle will perform. One of the advantages of TifEagle is that it stays ‘true to type’, so it will stay very consistent in leaf texture, density and growth.” Works on the old campus golf green began last August, with students undertaking multiple herbicide applications to knock out the existing couch, paspalum and bentgrass. The turf was then stripped, the profile rotaryhoed and any contamination removed over the next 8-10 months. Once satisfied that all foreign grasses were absent, Rusco (Sports Turf Technology) supplied the TAFE with 11 rolls of TifEagle grown by Darren Kirkwood at West Coast Turf. After basic shaping by the students, a donated compost from Veolia was applied using a Redexim turf spreader at a depth of 6mm. It was then rotary hoed to a depth of 180mm which worked out around three per cent volume. After washing the sand from the TifEagle sod and then drying it, the turf was groomed and shredded using a Mowmaster groomer. After fluffing the surface with a handheld spiker, the shredded turf was spread onto the green by hand, before being rolled in to ensure good contact with the surface.

Over the past year, Certificate III in Sports Turf Management students at South Metropolitan TAFE in Perth have reconstructed the Murdoch Campus golf green and are growing in TifEagle couchgrass as part of their studies, the first green of its type in Western Australia

“The green was stolonised on 17 June and we used a grow sheet to encourage growth and protect the TifEagle from low morning temperatures,” reports Austen. “We had some beautiful days which encouraged growth and after eight weeks we had roots exceeding 60mm which is impressive in a Perth winter. “The cover was removed and after handmowing at 8.5mm twice per week we then went down to 7mm. As of mid-October we are still at that height and cutting the green 2-3 times a week. “Using the grow sheet made a big difference. We were very keen to promote lateral growth, so implementing a frequent mowing program and dropping the height

down quickly facilitated that. We don’t want any upwards growth that will promote thatch. “Spring in Perth has been a mixed bag of sunny days, rain, cold fronts and cloudy humid days. Soil temperatures are now reaching over 25°C more often, so we expect growth potential to increase heading into November. We look forward to seeing how it progresses and hope to have a trade day next year to showcase our work to the industry. “For a bit of fun, the students asked ‘AI’ what the chances of success were for planting TifEagle in a Perth winter, in sand. AI gave us just a five per cent success rate and didn’t recommend planting! We now have nearly 80 per cent coverage!” – Brett Robinson SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 71

BOOK REVIEW

GREAT GOLF ON THE MELBOURNE SANDBELT By Gary Lisbon, Foreword by Geoff Ogilvy Hardcover, 112 pages, 210+ images Price: AUD$105 www.greatgolfbooks.com

or more than two decades now Gary Lisbon has established himself as one of Australia’s, if not the world’s, leading golf course photographers. His decision to eschew a career as a chartered accountant and pick up the Canon has certainly, pardon the financial pun, paid handsome dividends. His photographs have been used my many of the world’s leading golf publications, and Australian Turfgrass Management Journal has been fortunate on a number of occasions to showcase his images, including this edition’s cover story on Huntingdale Golf Club. Lisbon has travelled the world photographing many of the game’s great layouts – his tally now stands upwards of 720 courses – but his heart very much resides back home, the Melbourne Sandbelt in particular. And it is on that hallowed collection of courses that his fifth and latest book focuses on. Following on from the publication of Great Golf Courses of the World in 2023 – a 288page coffee table book which features more than 420 images from 100 courses around the globe – comes the more intimate Great Golf on the Melbourne Sandbelt. Spanning 112 pages with a foreword from recent Presidents Cup captain Geoff Ogilvy, who grew up playing the courses, the book features over 210 images (ground-level and aerial), spanning all 10 Sandbelt courses – Royal

Melbourne’s East and West courses, Kingston Heath, Metropolitan, Victoria, Yarra Yarra, Commonwealth, Huntingdale and PeninsulaKingswood’s North and South courses. Each course is presented in full, capturing the distinctive character, strategic brilliance and natural beauty that have made the Sandbelt famous the world over. With the number of course redevelopments which many of these clubs have undertaken in recent times (see pages 8-15 on Huntingdale’s reimagining by OCM Golf), these collection of images, most of which were captured this year (2026) at the peak of the courses’ beauty and conditioning, represents the most up to date of any golfing publication.

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Each club is accompanied by original artwork from illustrator Daniel Hille, whose clubhouse renderings and course maps add depth and context, while essays from club members offer a personal insight into what it means to call these places home. One of the really cool components of Lisbon’s book, aside from its unique panoramic format, is the nod he gives to the custodians of each course. Under the chapter ‘Visionaries, Stewards and Custodians’, Lisbon writes: “Few stretches of golfing landscape on earth rival the Melbourne Sandbelt… Their enduring greatness is the product of two forces: the architects who give courses their soul, and the superintendents who keep that soul alive, every day.” Across a double page spread (pictured left) Lisbon includes profiles on each of the current day superintendents – John Mann (Royal Melbourne), Hayden Mead (Kingston Heath), Steven Newell (Victoria), Michael Freeman (Huntingdale), Richard Forsyth (Metropolitan), Adam Lamb (Commonwealth), Clint Raven (Yarra Yarra) and Glenn Stuart (Peninsula-Kingswood). Of Forsyth, who recently moved from Royal Melbourne back to Metropolitan, Lisbon writes: “On the Sandbelt, the superintendent’s craft becomes its own art form. No one better embodies this than Richard Forsyth whose 16 years at Royal Melbourne – and now a returning chapter at Metropolitan after 15 years – has shaped not just two of the Sandbelt’s finest courses but an entire generation of turf professionals. Three of the Sandbelt’s current superintendents learned their craft under Forsyth, a legacy of mentorship as important as any design work done above ground.” You can purchase a copy of Great Golf on the Melbourne Sandbelt through www.greatgolfbooks.com. – Brett Robinson